~Don 


n 


AT    LOS  ANGELES 


ROBERT  ERNEST  COWAN 


C/" 


DON  DIEGO 


THE  GOD  CLOWN  DANCER. 


Don  Diego 

or 

The  Pueblo  Indian 
Uprising  of  1680 


BY 

ALBERT  B.  REAGAN 


NEW  YORK 
THE  ALICE  HARRIMAN  COMPANY 


Copyright,  1914 
BY  ALBERT  B.  REAGAN 


THE    VAIL-BALLOU    COMPANY 
Binghamton,  New  York,  U.  S.  A. 


PREFACE 

Soon  after  I  became  United  States  Indian  Farmer 
at  Jemez,  New  Mexico,  in  1899,  the  Jemez  Indians 
had  a  masked  dance.  As  the  dance  occurred  on  mail 
day,  they  stopped  the  mail  carrier  and  would  not  allow 
him  to  proceed  on  his  journey.  This  they  did  in  ac 
cordance  with  their  custom  not  to  allow  a  white  man 
to  enter  or  to  pass  through  the  village  while  they  were 
thus  occupied.  The  stopping  of  the  mail  led  to  the  ar 
rest  of  the  Indian  governor,  Jose  Romero.  He,  as  a 
result  of  the  preliminary  examination,  was  bound  over  to 
the  United  States'  grand  jury  which  was  to  meet  the  next 
March,  six  months  after  the  crime  was  committed.  Tak 
ing  pity  on  the  Indian,  I  bailed  him  out  and  took  him  back 
to  the  village.  From  that  time  on  throughout  the  win 
ter  months  the  Jemez  were  very  friendly  to  me.  They 
allowed  me  to  visit  their  performances  at  will,  though 
they  did  not  send  me  special  invitations  to  do  so.  At 
the  trial  in  March  the  governor  was  found  guilty  and 
fined  the  full  extent  of  the  law  for  interfering  with 
the  carrying  of  the  mail.  As  soon  as  the  sentence  was 
handed  down,  I  went  to  the  judge,  and  after  a  great  deal 
of  argument,  persuaded  him  to  suspend  the  sentence 
vipon  the  promise  of  good  behavior.  So  I  returned  to 
the  village  with  the  governor  a  second  time.  In  the 
evening  after  our  return  the  "  principals  "  of  the  place 
met,  and,  as  the  greatest  favor  they  could  bestow  upon 


vi  PREFACE 

me,  they  invited  me  in  the  name  of  the  tribe  to  visit 
any  and  all  of  their  ceremonies,  both  open  and  secret. 
They  stated  further  that  they  would  let  me  know  when 
ever  they  had  any  special  ceremony.  This,  with  but  one 
exception,  they  carried  out  to  the  letter.  Acting  upon 
the  invitation,  I  visited  each  of  the  estufas  at  will.  I 
was  often  with  the  Indians  in  them  six  nights  in  a  week. 
I  also  examined  the  "  blind  closets  "  and  secret  rooms 
in  their  dwellings.  Furthermore,  night  after  night  I 
listened  to  the  legends  told  around  their  firesides.  Thus 
I  was  enabled  to  see  and  hear  many  things  of  interest. 
Later  I  had  charge  of  the  Cibicu  division  of  the  Fort 
Apache  Indian  reservation  and  had  access  to  all  of  their 
performances,  both  religious  and  medicinal.  All  these, 
together  with  the  Spanish  accounts  o>f  the  discovery  and 
subjugation  of  New  Mexico,  and  the  Indian  myths  and 
traditions  concerning  same,  I  have  used  in  the  follow 
ing  story,  believing  that  it  will  prove  of  interest  to  the 
public,  while  laying  no  claim  to  absolute  historical  ac 
curacy  other  than  in  descriptions.  Indian  customs  vary 
but  little  and  what  took  place  in  this  century  is  practi 
cally  the  same  as  what  occurred  in  the  seventeenth  cen 
tury.  This  is  not  a  history  but  a  novel  with  an  historical 
thread  with  gaps  filled  in  to  make  up  the  story.  More 
over  the  writer  has  used  the  novelist's  license  to  bring 
out  the  effect  desired.  It  must  also  be  understood  that 
the  word  slave  as  used  in  this  book  is  used  to  mean  any 
person  who  labors  without  pay,  as  a  forced  servant,  a 
peon,  or  a  convict. 

In  conclusion  I  wish  to  express  my  everlasting  grati 
tude  to  Professor  Bandelier  of  Columbia  College,  New 
York,  who  has  aided  me  in  correcting  the  manuscript. 


PREFACE  vii 

For  the  benefit  of  students  I  must  add  that  the  au 
thorities  I  have  principally  followed  in  the  historical  part 
are  George  Parker  Winship's  "  The  Coronado  Expedi 
tion,  1540-1542,"  Fourteenth  Ethnological  Report,  1893, 
Part  I,  pages  331  to  598;  also  Bancroft's  History  of 
Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  and  the  accounts  Mr.  Ban 
croft  gives  from  other  authors  in  his  notes. 

ALBERT  B.  REAGAN. 


AN  EXPLANATORY  NOTE 

The  Queres  were  the  Zia,  Santa  Anna,  San  Felipe, 
Santo  Domingo  and  Cochiti  Indians.  The  Piros  Indians 
lived  in  the  vicinity  of  Socorro,  south  of  Albuquerque, 
New  Mexico.  The  Tompiros  lived  back  of  the  San  Bias, 
southeast  and  east  of  Albuquerque.  The  Tiguas  were 
the  Ysleta  Indians  and  their  neighbors.  The  Tanos 
were  the  Indians  about  Santa  Fe.  They  were  the  San 
Lazaro,  San  Cristobal,  Callisteo,  San  Marcos,  San  Pedro 
and  Cienaga.  The  Tehuas  were  the  Santa  Clara,  San 
Ildefonso,  Jacona,  Nambe,  San  Juan,  Pujuaque,  and 
Tezuque.  The  Picuri  were  north  of  Santa  Fe,  east  of 
the  Rio  Grande,  north  of  the  Tehuas,  the  farthest  north 
except  Taos. 


DON  DIEGO 


CHAPTER  I 

HOO,  ahoo,  ahoo,  ahoo,"  broke  the  stillness  of 
an  early  morning  in  May,  at  Jemez,  in  the  year 
1680.  A  masked  dance  was  commencing.  The  "  ahoo, 
ahoo,  ahoo,"  grew  louder  and  louder,  becoming  a  heavier, 
basic,  hideous  sound  as  sixteen  strange-looking  creatures 
issued,  one  after  another,  from  the  passageway  in  the 
roof  of  the  rectangular  "  sun  house."  They  were  the 
clowns  who,  according  to  the  Jemez  religion,  represent 
the  principal  Gods  —  the  Sun,  the  Moon,  the  Morning 
Star  and  the  Evening  Star,  on  special  religious  occa 
sions.  All  of  these  clowns  were  gaudily  dressed.  All 
had  conspicuous  head  ornaments.  All  wore  circular 
masks,  some  eight  inches  in  diameter,  on  which  were 
painted  the  gods  they  respectively  represented,  together 
with  paintings  of  clouds,  of  lightnings,  and  of  snakes. 
The  Indians  think  that  the  gods  in  the  vault  above  wear 
similarly  decorated  masks,  so  large  that  each  respectively 
hides  the  whole  person  of  the  god  that  wears  it.  The 
mask  only  is  all  that  is  ever  seen  by  human  eyes. 

The  arms  of  these  clowns  were  naked.  They  wore 
leggings  and  moccasins  tinged  in  red.  Their  yellow- 
painted  bodies  were  wrapped  in  richly  colored  blankets 
or  robes,  on  which  were  embroidered,  in  characteristic 
colors,  figures  of  the  sun,  of  the  moon,  of  the  great 


DON  DIEGO 


stars,  of  the  good  and  evil  snakes,  of  the  rainbow  in  the 
west  and  the  rainbow  in  the  east,  and  of  four  pillars  of 
clouds.  They  made  a  fantastic  display. 

Nearly  all  of  the  head  ornaments  of  these  men  con 
sisted  of  eagle  feathers  so  arranged  on  a  buckskin  cov 
ering  as  to  represent  the  spread  tail  of  a  bird  with  re 
verse  side  presented  to  the  front.  Back  of  this  fan  of 


£— K- 


W 


? 


Ho    -    wa        Ho  -  wa       ho  -  wa    ho  -  wa    ho  ho  - 

A  A 


<EK  A 

+h- 

—  v-  »• 

H—  i- 

.  i 

—  ••  — 

-fH- 

i  j 

wa       ho    -    wa        ho  -  wa    ho  -  wa    ho 

A  A 


ho    -    wa 


•i-*- 


-s>-    -0- 

Mon-te  -  zu  -    ma     (        Ho     -    wa    Mont-e  -  zu  -  ma, 

A  A 


A. 

..... 

i  • 

-      *  • 

I(T\ 

J 

1 

1 

n 

: 

:  J  .. 

i-  i    *  . 

Mon-te  -  zu  -  ma    w&    -  me       wa    -    mS         wa    -    mS 

A  A 


^^- 


& 


m 


wa  -  m5  wa  -  mS  Mon-  te  -  zu  -  ma  wa  -  me    Ho  -  wa 
A     A    A  A 


i 


ma  -  mS         Ho  -  wa     ma  -  m5  Mon-te-zu-ma  ma -me 


DON  DIEGO 


J  A  'S6> 

MONTEZUMA 
A            A 

A 

Jf  -4-      1 

™1 

Si                tf  ^\       P    i          K.     i 

—  fis!  2  Nl 

x^ 
Yu    -    a  -sha-lon,          ya    -    u    -    sha-lon, 

n                                A 

ya    -     a  -  sha- 

A 

M 

1    K 

2L                                            f, 

VJ           |              1              . 

|g^.  —  _j  1           1 

-  —  |  -f—  ~  -J  —  H  —  |  f  - 

H  ^-i-l  ^- 

^J                     *  *      • 

-fiJ-     -0-             *    •+-•  -J- 

v-*-*       * 

Ion    Mon-te-zu  -  ma,     Mon-te  -  zu  -  ma  Mon-te-zu  -  ma 


a.  j 


Mon-te-zu   -  ma  Mon-te-zu  -  ma  ya  -   a  -  sha-lon. 

These  are  Jemez  songs.  The  first  is  used  in  the  "round  dances" 
in  the  estufas,  also  in  the  "ghost  dances."  The  second  is  sung  by 
the  young  people  to  pass  away  the  time.  It  is  also  sung  on  re 
ligious  occasions. 

feathers  were  paintings  of  the  greater  gods,  whose  out 
lines  were  formed  with  tiny  images,  beads  of  turquoise, 
and  shells  of  various  kinds. 

The  masks,  with  respect  to  the  figures  painted  on  them, 
were  four  of  a  kind.  The  symbol  which  the  wearer  rep 
resented  occupied  the  central  position  on  the  mask. 
These  central  figures  consisted  of  a  disk  surrounded  by 
concentric  bands  in  the  sun  and  moon  drawings  and  by 
points  in  the  star  symbols.  The  disks  of  all  the  figures 
were  red,  except  those  of  the  moon,  which  were  white. 
The  inner  band  of  the  sun  was  black,  the  outer  was 
composed  of  rays  of  red  alternating  with  outer  spaces 
of  yellow.  From  this  outer  band  there  projected  darts 
in  red ;  one  to  the  right,  and  one  to  the  left,  one  towards 
the  heavens,  and  one  toward  the  earth.  The  white  disk 
of  the  moon  was  surrounded  by  a  wide  yellow  ring. 


4  DON  DIEGO 

From  it  four  groups  of  peculiar-looking  figures  pro 
jected,  one  toward  each  of  the  four  cardinal  points  when 
the  mask  is  laid  flat  on  the  ground,  with  one  of  the  groups 
extending  in  a  cardinal  direction.  The  Jemez  suppose 
that  these  groups  represent  the  rays  of  the  moon.  Each 
group  consisted  of  two  yellow  figures  inclined  at  a  small 
angle  from  the  perpendicular  and  from  each  other. 
Each  of  these  terminated  at  its  outer  end  in  a  blue  disk. 
The  whole  looked  much  like  a  half -burned  cigar,  the  blue 
disk  representing  the  ashy  end.  The  stars  were  four 
pointed.  The  points  of  the  morning  star  were  black, 
those  of  the  evening  star  yellow.  The  disks  of  all  the 
central  figures  were  god  faces.  The  eyes  were  triangu 
lar  in  shape,  the  mouth  rectangular.  Both  the  eyes  and 
the  mouth  were  painted  black.  The  outer  figures  on  the 
masks  were  at  the  right  and  at  the  left  of  the  central 
emblem.  The  drawings  on  the  one  side  were  the  coun 
terparts  of  those  on  the  other.  The  four  pillars  of 
clouds,  painted  black,  projected  out  and  extended  as  a 
succession  of  steps  along  the  rim  of  the  mask  almost 
from  its  lower  part,  as  the  mask  is  worn,  to  its  upper 
part.  From  these  cloud  pillars,  or  "  steps  from  earth  to 
heaven,"  as  the  Jemez  believes  them  to  be,  four  figures, 
painted  in  striking  and  characteristic  colors,  extend,  one 
from  each  cloud  projection  in  toward  the  controlling 
symbol.  The  upper  figure  represented  the  bolt  light 
ning;  the  next  lower  a  red,  zigzag-bodied  snake,  having 
a  blue  head  from  which  a  horn  curved  backwards  like 
a  goat's  horn.  This  figure  is  the  emblem  of  evil.  It  is 
the  Indian  devil,  Sawah.  The  third  from  the  top  was  a 
sinuously  curved  yellow  figure  which  terminated  in  three 
green  buds.  It  was  drawn  to  represent  the  flash  of  heat 


VIII.    A  MISCELLANEOUS  GROUP. 

1.  The  Sun  as  carved  on  a  bowlder  on  the  trail  between  Zia  and  Jemez, 
N.  M. ;  also  on  a  rock  near  White  River,  Ariz. 

2.  A  Sun  drawing  in  an  Estufa  at  Santa  Anna,  N.  M. 

3.  A   Getlu,   probably   a   representation   of  a   comet.     It  was   used   as  a 
handpiece  in  the  masked  dance  of  March  17,  1900.     (Used  here  by  permission 
of  the  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology.) 

4.  A  Head    Ornament  worn   by   a   male   column   dancer   in   the   masked 
dances  at  Jemez,  N.  M. 

5.  A  Sun  Mask  worn  by  a  sun  clown  in  the  masked  dances  at  Jemez. 

6.  A  Moon  Mask  worn  by  a  moon  clown  in  the  masked  dances  at  Jemez. 

7.  A  Morning  Star  Mask  worn  by  a  morning  star  clown  in  the  masked 
dances  at  Jemez. 

8.  An  Evening  Star  Mask  worn  by  an  evening  star  clown  in  the  masked 
dances   at  Jemez. 

9.  The  Bolt  Lightning  drawn  on  the  beam  at  the  entrance  of  an  Estufa 
at  Santa  Anna,  N.  M. 

10.     The  White  Snakes  drawn  on  the  center  beam  in  the  south  Estufa  at 
Jemez,   N.   M. 


DON  DIEGO  5 

lightning,  which  the  Jemez  believe  is  the  god  of  bloom. 
The  lower  figure  was  a  zigzag,  blue-bodied  snake,  having 
a  green  head,  with  horn  turning  backwards,  similar  to 
that  of  the  red  snake.  This  snake  is  the  representative 
of  good.  It  is  considered  by  the  Indians  as  the  producer 
of  rain, —  as  being  the  genius  of  the  watercourses. 

As  soon  as  the  god  representatives  had  descended 
from  the  roof  of  the  estufa,  as  the  Pueblo  sun  houses  are 
called,  they  began  to  dance  and  crow-hop  about,  and  for 
several  minutes  they  kept  up  their  ear-grating  "  ahoo- 
ing."  Then  they  began  to  march  around  the  village, 
if  a  march  it  can  be  called.  They  advanced  in  a  long, 
drawn-out  column.  Some  crow-hopped;  some  jumped 
like  a  man,  others  like  a  frog;  some  walked  with  a  cane, 
mimicking  an  old  man.  The  cane  was  tri-colored  in  red, 
yellow,  and  green.  Some,  leaning  forward  on  short 
canes,  walked  on  all  fours.  Others  strutted  about  like  a 
turkey-gobbler.  Occasionally  all  stopped  a  moment  to 
pose.  In  this  act  they  usually  stood  half  erect,  threw 
their  hips  backwards,  contorted  their  bodies,  and  brought 
their  heads  in  a  position  so  that  the  circular  mask  pre 
sented  a  full  front  to  the  god  of  day,  or  to  his  place  of 
rising.  At  the  same  time  they  prolonged  the  "  ahooing  " 
and  gave  it  an  emphatic  accent.  In  this  manner  did  they 
march  and  pose  till  they  had  encircled  the  whole  village 
and  returned  to  the  public  square  in  front  of  the  estufa. 
From  that  time  on  they  mingled  with  the  populace  in  the 
streets  and  plaza.,  feasted,  danced,  crow-hopped,  or 
posed,  as  the  "  spirit  moved  "  each  individual  or  the 
whole  group  collectively  till  the  close  of  the  dance. 

Soon  after  the  god-clowns  had  begun  their  march 
around  the  village  twelve  men,  dressed  or  undressed,  as 


6  DON  DIEGO 

each  one's  fancy  dictated,  their  faces  whitened  with 
paint,  issued  from  the  estufa,  and  began  a  rude  rhythmic 
chant  in  a  minor  key ;  the  time  was  beaten  with  a  single 
stick  on  a  drum  made  from  a  hollow  log.  The  musicians 
advanced  in  a  body  through  the  plaza,  keeping  time  with 
their  feet  and  gesticulating  in  a  manner  intended  to  con 
vey  the  meaning  of  their  song. 

As  soon  as  the  musicians  were  far  enough  from  the 
estufa  to  give  room,  the  dancers  issued  from  that  house 
and  formed  a  fantastic  procession  in  double  column,  two 
men  abreast,  then  two  women,  and  so  alternating  till 
the  procession  was  completed.  The  men  stamped  and 
the  squaws  tripped  lightly,  but  all  were  keeping  time. 
They  presented  a  weird  appearance,  tricked  out  in  their 
gaudy  apparel  and  ornamented  with  flashy  trinkets.  The 
hair  of  the  men  was  worn  loosely ;  tufts  of  feathers  flut 
tered  over  their  foreheads ;  while  around  their  necks  and 
dangling  over  their  naked  chests  were  strings  of  shell 
beads,  turquoises,  bright  pebbles,  feldspar,  obsidian  — 
anything,  in  short,  that  glitters  and  shines.  Fastened 
about  the  waist  and  reaching  nearly  to  the  knee,  a  kilt- 
like  dancing  skirt  of  buckskin  hung  and  flapped.  It  was 
ornamented  with  an  embroidery  of  red  and  black  threads. 
Below  the  knee,  garters  of  buckskin,  stained  red,  yellow, 
and  blue,  formed  a  fringe,  to  which  were  attached  tor 
toise-shells  and  rattles.  The  ankles  were  encased  with 
strips  of  black  and  white  fur.  From  the  waist  a  fox- 
skin  hung,  fastened  at  the  back  and  reaching  almost  as 
low  as  the  heel.  Each  man  carried  a  tuft  of  hawk's 
feathers  in  his  left  hand,  while  the  right  grasped  a  rattle 
fashioned  from  a  gourd,  partly  filled  with  pebbles.  Al 
though  the  women  wore  their  ordinary  black  dress,  they 


DON  DIEGO  7 

were  bedecked  with  a  profusion  of  necklaces,  strings  of 
beads,  silver  badges,  wristbands,  and  ear  pendants,  while 
in  each  hand  was  borne  a  bunch  of  pifion  twigs,  which 
was  wagged  from  side  to  side.  Both  the  men  and 
women  wore  masks  and  striking  head-dresses.  The 
masks  were  heart-shaped,  with  the  exception  of  the  base, 
which  was  a  straight  line.  They  were  made  of  buck 
skin,  were  painted  blue  or  green,  and,  like  the  circular 
masks,  had  triangular  holes  cut  in  them  for  the  eyes  and 
a  rectangular  hole  for  the  mouth.  The  head-dresses 
consisted  of  a  piece  of  wood  about  fifteen  inches  long  and 
eight  inches  in  width.  One  end  of  it  was  carved  out,  in 
arch  shape,  so  as  to  fit  the  head  transversely  just  in  front 
of  the  ears.  The  other  end  was  trimmed  in  what  resem 
bled  a  triple  turret,  squarely  notched  with  white  feathers 
fluttering  from  each.  This  head-piece  was  painted  green 
and  decorated  in  symbolic  figures  in  red  and  yellow. 
This  peculiar  head-gear  was  held  in  place  by  strips  of 
buckskin  attached  to  the  center  o>f  the  hollowed-out  arch 
and  knotted  about  meshes  of  the  wearers'  dark,  stream 
ing  hair,  and  also  by  a  cord  passing  beneath  the  chin  from 
the  ends  of  the  board  at  the  foot  of  the  arch. 

Just  as  these  dancers  had  formed  in  double  column 
for  dancing,  the  spectators  were  suddenly  attracted  to 
ward  the  passageway  of  the  estufa,  whence  were  issu 
ing  a  dozen  or  more  strange-looking  beings.  They  were 
the  "  funny  men."  They  did  not  walk  into  the  plaza, 
neither  did  they  dance  into  it,  but  rather  tumbled  into  it ; 
running,  hopping,  stumbling,  cutting  capers,  like  a  troupe 
of  ill-trained  clowns.  In  fact,  in  their  clumsy  way,  they 
imitated  or  acted  out  almost  every  silly  performance 
known  to  the  clown  profession.  The  lookers-on  enjoyed 


8  DON  DIEGO 

their  tricks  and  pranks  immensely.  They  hailed  the 
clumsy  attempts  at  a  joke  and  the  coarse  sallies  of  wit 
with  shrieks  of  laughter.  These  "  funny  men  "  were 
attired  only  in  breech-cloth.  Their  bodies  were  daubed 
in  transverse  rings  or  bands  of  black  and  white,  and 
their  heads  were  decorated  with  corn  husks  instead  of 
feathers. 

While  the  clowns  performed,  the  column  dancers 
moved  about  the  whole  plaza,  the  men  gravely  stamping, 
the  women  gracefully  tripping,  and  when  the  entire  plaza 
was  circled  the  couples  separated  and  changed  places,  all 
turning  and  facing  each  other,  suggesting  by  their  move 
ments  the  flexures  of  a  closely  folded  ribbon.  The  cou 
ples  then  reformed,  the  double  rank  strung  out  as  before, 
tramping  in  a  wide  circle  to  the  rhythm  and  measure  of 
the  monotonous  music.  The  faces  were  now  reversed, 
and  they  danced  in  double  column  back  to  the  starting- 
point.  A  rest  was  then  taken. 

The  very  moment  that  the  dancing  ceased,  the  "  funny 
men  "  resumed  their  performing  with  increased  vigor. 
One  clown  climbed  a  tree  backwards.  Another  snatched 
a  millstone  and  slab  from  the  grinding  box  in  a  house 
and,  rushing  to  the  plaza,  commenced  grinding  sand  upon 
it,  singing  all  the  while,  and  putting  handfuls  of  sand 
in  his  mouth  now  and  then.  He  was  in  this  manner  mim 
icking  a  squaw  grinding  meal.  Four  or  five  more  played 
a  farce  in  representation  of  the  immorality  of  the  place. 
Another  got  the  skull  of  an  elk  and  began  to  beat  it,  while 
several  of  his  fellows  danced  the  double-column  dance. 
As  they  danced,  another  one  of  the  order  walked  rever 
ently  to  the  column  and,  as  he  prayed  in  jest,  sprinkled 
each  dancer  with  sand  and  ashes.  Thus  he  mimicked 


DON  DIEGO  9 

the  sun  priest  sprinkling  the  dancers  with  sacred  corn 
pollen  in  the  estufa  before  they  issued  from  it  to  dance 
in  the  plaza.  Just  as  the  mock  dancers  were  dispersing, 
a  "  funny  man  "  tumbled  out  of  a  house  with  an  ear  of 
corn  in  his  hand.  Reaching  the  dancing  area,  he  began 
to  gnaw  the  corn  as  a  dog  does  a  bone.  Instantly  an 
other  clown  began  to  snarl  and  growl,  and  finally  sprang 
upon  the  bone-gnawer.  At  that  moment  the  attention  of 
everyone  was  attracted  from  the  pretended  dog-fight  by 
the  shrieks  of  the  women  and  girls.  The  clowns  were 
making  sallies  on  them.  Some  of  the  younger  men  of 
the  fraternity  were  trying  to  embrace  the  older  women; 
some  of  the  older  men  the  young  girls. 

After  a  momentary  lull  the  "  funny  men,"  acting  upon 
a  previous  plan,  tumbled  and  rolled  over  each  other  to 
ward  the  war-captain,  Don  Diego,  until  they  were  within 
a  yard  or  so  of  him.  Springing  to  their  feet,  they  seized 
and  carried  him  on  their  shoulders  to  the  center  of  the 
public  square.  Reaching  it,  they  placed  him  on  a  piece 
of  buckskin  and,  in  a  body,  demanded  a  speech,  the 
chief  clown  introducing  him  to  the  motley  multitude. 

"  Here  is  our  war-captain,"  he  said.  "  He  is  brave. 
He  has  killed  the  bear  in  his  hole.  He  has  been  the 
hero  in  many  a  religious  hunt.  He  has  fought  the  Nava- 
jos  and  has  driven  them  even  to  their  hogans  in  their 
own  land.  Aye,  he  is  brave.  He  would  fight  even  the 
demons  of  the  land  of  fogs  and  storms.  But  he  quails 
before  the  women.  He  is  a  bachelor  and  a  bachelor  he 
will  remain,  though  Geetlu  would  be  his  wife  if  he  would 
ask  her.  But  he  is  brave.  Hear  him." 

Tiring  of  the  fun,  Don  Diego  turned  a  flashing  eye 
upon  his  tormentors.  "  You  shall  have  a  speech."  Then 


io  DON  DIEGO 

without  further  ceremony  he  proceeded :  "  This  earth 
is  flat  and  round  like  a  pancake  and  is  known  to  possess 
four  places  of  habitation,  situated  one  above  another. 
Each  has  for  its  roof  the  floor  of  the  apartment  above 
it,  except  this  one,  which  has  the  sky.  A  long,  long 
while  ago  our  people  lived  in  the  apartment  beneath  this 
one.  For  a  long  time  they  lived  there.  Finally  one 
day  a  man  saw  a  hole  which  led  up  through  the  roof  to 
this  world.  He  crawled  up  through  it  and  all  the  people 
followed  him.  The  mouth  of  the  hole  being  in  the  far 
north,  a  council  was  called.  At  this  meeting  the  '  prin 
cipals  '  decided  to  move  toward  the  noon-day  sun.  Said 
they :  '  The  sun  warmed  the  place  from  which  we  came ; 
therefore,  by  moving  towards  it  this  earth  must  become 
warmer.'  So  they  began  their  march  over  mountains  of 
ice  and  snow  toward  the  boiling  ocean.  For  a  long, 
long  time  they  journeyed;  but  the  land  of  sunshine  was 
not  reached.  On,  on  they  marched  till  their  food  supply 
became  scanty  and  their  blankets  became  worn  out.  Then 
one  by  one  they  died  of  cold  and  hunger.  For  a  while 
those  who  survived  kept  up  courage  even  under  the  ad 
verse  conditions,  and  continued  their  onward  march.  At 
last,  however,  their  numbers  being  so  depleted,  they  be 
came  despondent  and  wished  all  to  die.  At  this  junc 
ture  the  mother  god,  the  moon,  prayed  to  her  husband, 
the  sun,  to  save  the  remnant  of  men,  their  children.  So 
the  sun  took  one  of  the  survivors  of  our  people,  painted 
his  body  in  transverse  black  and  white  bands,  decorated 
his  head  with  corn  husks,  and  suspended  an  eagle  feather 
behind  each  ear.  As  soon  as  he  was  thus  painted  and 
decorated,  this  man  became  a  '  funny  man,'  and  began 
to  dance,  cut  capers,  and  make  grimaces.  So  interested 


DON  DIEGO  ii 

did  the  people  become  in  his  performing  that  they  forgot 
their  sorrows  and  became  glad.  They  then  resumed  their 
journey,  which  they  continued  till  they  reached  the  con 
fluences  of  the  Rio  Grande. 

"  Here  in  this  valley  they  ceased  their  wandering  and 
took  up  their  abode.  Being  few  in  numbers  and  not 
trained  in  the  arts  of  war  and  defense,  they  were  afraid 
of  the  savage  tribes, —  the  Apaches,  and  Navajos,  who 
dwelt  in  the  region.  So  they  established  their  places  of 
habitation  in  narrow  canons,  along  cliffs,  and  in  caves. 
In  these  they  lived  a  great,  great  while,  subsisting  on  the 
grain  they  raised  and  on  the  plentiful  game.  Then  the 
savage  hordes  began  to  make  inroads  into  the  territory. 
They  killed  all  the  game,  or,  by  their  presence,  it  was 
made  unsafe  to  hunt.  They  took  the  fields  one  by  one. 
They  drove  the  people  to  the  cliffs  and  caves;  and  then 
captured  these  strongholds  by  storm  or  starved  the  people 
until  they  came  out  of  their  own  accord  and  gave  them 
selves  over  to  be  slaughtered  or  to  be  enslaved.  Only 
a  few  places  still  held  out  and  these  were  reduced  to 
such  straits  that  their  capture,  followed  by  the  massacre 
of  the  prisoners,  was  daily  expected.  Certain  was  their 
annihilation. 

"  Again  the  mother  god  prayed  to  the  sun  to  save  their 
children,  and  a  second  time  the  great  father  came  to  the 
rescue.  At  this  time  he  placed  among  them  a  '  knowing 
man,'  whose  name  was  Pest-ya-sode. 

"  Pest-ya-sode  defeated  the  enemies,  raised  the  siege 
of  the  caves  and  cliffs,  and  drove  the  savages  out  of  the 
narrow  canons.  He  trained  the  people  in  the  arts  of  war. 
He  led  them  out  into  the  open  country.  He  at  last  ex 
pelled  the  hostile  tribes  from  the  region  after  a  desperate 


12  DON  DIEGO 

encounter.  He  instructed  the  Indians  to  build  villages  in 
horse-shoe  shape  with  continuous  outer  walls,  so  that  they 
served  both  as  places  of  residence  and  as  fortifications. 
He  taught  them  their  religious  rites  and  ceremonies.  He 
instituted  the  sacred  hunts.  He  taught  the  people  to  paint 
their  houses  and  edifices  of  worship  in  representative  fig 
ures  of  the  gods.  He  made  the  column-dancers  the 
sprouters  of  grain;  the  'funny  men'  the  maturers  of 
grain  and  of  everything  that  lives  and  grows  upon  the 
earth.  To  the  god-clown  dancers  he  gave  power  to  rep 
resent  men  before  the  deities.  To  the  medicine  men  he 
gave  the  power  over  '  sick  '  and  over  death.  To  the  sun 
priest  and  his  aids  he  gave  the  power  to  intercede  be 
tween  those  above  and  men. 

"  For  a  long,  long  time  he  lived  with  them,  extending 
their  territory,  building  pueblos,  and  erecting  temples  to 
the  sun.  Finally,  after  he  had  made  them  a  powerful 
and  prosperous  people,  he  called  them  all  together  and 
told  them  that  there  were  many  peoples  that  he  must  teach 
as  he  had  taught  them,  and  that  he  must  go  and  instruct 
them.  '  Then,'  said  he,  '  when  I  am  gone  you  will  neg 
lect  to  do  the  things  that  I  have  taught  you.  Therefore 
will  my  father,  the  sun,  come  in  his  wrath,  destroy  your 
pueblos,  and  give  your  fields  to  another  race.  After 
that  will  you  return  to  do  the  things  I  have  commanded 
you.  Then  when  you  have  returned  from  your  evil 
ways  will  I  come  on  the  wings  of  the  morning,  in  the 
chariot  of  the  sun,  expel  the  intruder  from  the  land,  re 
store  your  ancient  possessions,  and  establish  you  in  all 
your  former  glory.' 

"  After  Pest-ya-sode  had  departed,  the  people  did  ex 
actly  what  the  great  man  said  they  would.  They  de- 


DON  DIEGO  13 

parted  from  keeping  his  sayings  and  commandments, 
quarreled  among  themselves,  and  finally  became  divided. 
One  division  came  to  this  valley,  the  remaining  section 
is  still  at  Pecos,  the  home  of  our  tribe  at  the  time  Pest- 
ya-sode  took  his  departure  toward  the  boiling  ocean.  In 
this  valley  our  people  built  village  after  village,  only  to 
have  an  earthquake  throw  them  down  or  to  have  them 
razed  to  the  ground  by  some  of  our  many  enemies.  We 
have  built  villages  on  almost  every  foot  of  land  in  the 
valley  from  the  Rio  Grande  River  to  this  place,  a  distance 
of  a  good  day's  walk;  and,  besides  the  ruins  in  the  val 
leys,  thirteen  of  our  deserted  villages  dot  the  mesa  to 
the  northward  between  here  and  the  boiling  springs. 
But  yet  we  were  still  powerful.  We  still  had  seven  vil 
lages  in  the  valley  of  this  river  which  bears  our  name. 
Here  our  people  were  admirably  situated  for  agricul 
tural  purposes.  In  the  broad  valley  of  the  river  and  the 
valleys  of  its  upper  tributaries  were  large  and  good 
farms;  while  the  great  river  always  had  water  and  to 
spare  to  irrigate  the  crops. 

"  The  scenery  around  the  villages  then  was  the  same  as 
that  of  the  villages  now,  and  is  as  good  as  any  I  have 
had  the  privilege  of  seeing.  To  the  north  in  Guadalupe 
canon  are  the  falls ;  and  in  the  canon  of  San  Diego,  the 
hot  springs  and  soda  dam.  Still  farther  to  the  north  is 
a  forest-covered  plateau  and  a  great  valley  surrounded 
by  obsidian  cliffs  and  craters.  To  the  northeast  Mt. 
Balda  kisses  the  blue  sky.  To  the  east  the  Cochiti  range 
shuts  out  the  morning  sun.  To  the  southeast,  across 
lava-capped  mesas,  our  river  joins  the  great  river  that 
flows  in  the  direction  of  the  sun  at  noon.  Still  farther 
southeast  the  high  escarpment  of  the  Sandia  moun- 


H  DON  DIEGO 

tains  rises  abruptly  from  the  plains.  To  the  south  are 
white-capped  mesas ;  to  the  southwest,  mesas  and  escarp 
ments  of  stone  so  red  that  they  reflect  the  rays  of  the  sun 
in  the  morning,  the  reflected  red  light  reaching  even  to 
this  place.  And  to  the  west,  the  mountains,  which  have 
our  name,  give  the  sky  a  ragged  horizon,  while  in  the 
valleys  are  red  and  white  domes  and  castled  buttes. 

"  With  respect  to  defense,  the  situation  of  the  vil 
lages  then  as  now,  could  scarcely  have  been  bettered. 
The  villages  were  walled.  If  defeated  in  the  valley,  our 
people  could  retreat  to  the  isolated  mesa  at  the  forks  of 
the  river.  There  on  its  top  they  can  make  a  decided 
stand  against  any  enemy  that  might  wish  to  attack  them, 
for  its  precipitous  walls  rise  perpendicularly  from  the 
valley-floor  below  to  eighty  times  the  height  of  a  man, 
and  is  only  accessible  by  two  narrow  trails.  But  the 
evil  day  came  — " 

The  drum-beat  and  the  monotonous  chanting  of  the 
musicians  drowned  the  war-captain's  voice.  The  dou 
ble  column  reformed  and  the  dance  was  resumed. 
Around  the  plaza  the  dancers  proceeded  as  before  till 
the  processional  movement  was  completed. 

The  sowing-and-planting  act  was  then  given.  The 
columns  separated  and  faced  each  other,  the  dancers 
keeping  time  with  both  hands  and  feet  for  a  minute. 
Then  the  columns  joined  at  the  ends  and  spread  out  in  the 
middle  so  as  to  form  an  ellipse.  Around  this  all  danced 
in  a  side  movement  to  the  right  till  each  individual  faced 
his  respective  partner  again.  Then  the  partners  passed 
each  other  in  a  vigorous  forward  movement,  turned 
quickly  to  the  right  with  a  sweeping  motion,  and  leaned 
forward  nearly  to  the  ground,  the  men  swinging  their 


Altar  and  Sand  Painting  of  the  Snake  Society  of  Jemez. 


16  DON  DIEGO 

gourd  rattles  as  if  sowing  grain,  the  women  sticking 
the  heavy  end  of  the  twigs  in  the  ground  in  imitation  of 
planting  corn. 

At  this  instant  other  women  rushed  out  of  their  houses 
with  baskets  of  eatables,  ears  of  corn  and  various  kinds 
of  corn  cakes.  These  they  threw  up  into  the  air  in  all 
directions.  When  the  baskets  were  emptied,  they  re 
plenished  them  and  tossed  the  contents  toward  the  abode 
of  those  above.  Of  these  eatables  whoever  could  catch 
anything  that  fell  proceeded  to  do  so.  The  general 
scramble  that  followed  was  much  like  a  sheep-salting 
scene,  or  more  correctly,  more  like  feeding  swine  in  a 
trough  in  the  center  of  the  hog-yard.  In  this  act  of 
throwing  heavenward  the  food  which  heaven  has  enabled 
it  to  raise,  the  whole  tribe  displayed  its  gratitude  to  those 
above. 

Just  as  the  excitement  had  reached  a  high  pitch,  a  shout 
from  the  watch-tower  filled  everyone  with  consterna 
tion.  Could  an  enemy  be  approaching?  Someone  was 
approaching;  there  could  be  no  mistake  about  it,  for  the 
Jemez  scout  in  the  vicinity  of  Mt.  Negro  was  sending  up 
rings  of  smoke.  Towards  Jemez  the  rings  of  smoke 
moved.  Whoever  it  was  or  whatever  it  was,  it  was 
coming  to  Jemez.  Anxiously  and  breathlessly  everyone 
waited,  till  the  rings  of  smoke  signaled  that  friends  and 
not  enemies  were  approaching.  Then  the  dance  was  re 
sumed. 

Soon  masked  scouts  were  seen  approaching  the  vil 
lage  with  the  strangers,  who  proved  to  be  Pueblo  In 
dians  of  rank.  Don  Diego  and  several  unmasked  In 
dians  went  out  to  meet  them.  As  they  drew  near  Don 
Diego  recognized  one  of  them  as  Ojeda  of  Santa  Anna 


DON  DIEGO  17 

Pueblo,  'but  the  others  were  unknown.  Ojeda  intro 
duced  the  four  Indians  accompanying  him  to  the  Jemez 
war-captain : 

"  This  is  Pope,  a  San  Juan  Indian,  but  now  living  at 
Taos  and  an  officer  there.  This  is  Jaca,  also  an  officer 
of  Taos.  This  is  Catite  of  Santo  Domingo  and  Tupatu 
of  Picuri.  This  is  Tactu  of  San  Juan  and  Francisco  of 
San  Ildefonso.  They  have  come  on  a  mission  of  great 
importance  to  the  Pueblo  Indians,  one  that  concerns  us 
all.  They  have  brought  me  with  them  to  assure  you 
that  their  mission  is  friendly.  But  you  are  having  your 
special  ceremony  to-day.  My  friends  do  not  wish  to  dis 
turb  you,  so  we  will  remain  here  till  it  is  your  pleasure 
for  us  to  enter  the  village.  Their  mission  is  urgent, 
but  they  will  wait." 

"  No,"  said  Don  Diego,  "  you  need  not  wait  outside 
the  village.  Come  with  me." 

At  Tongay's,  the  father  of  Geetlu,  lodgings  were 
found.  There  they  staid  till  given  special  invitation  to 
attend  the  closing  ceremonies  of  the  dance. 

The  sun  was  now  commencing  to  hide  his  burning 
face  beyond  the  jagged  Jemez  peaks.  The  participants 
in  the  dance  and  the  lookers-on  lined  up  in  double  col 
umn  facing  each  other.  Between  these  lines  the  cacique 
and  his  aides  marched  solemnly  backward  and  forward; 
sprinkled  their  hearers  and  specially  the  visiting  strangers 
with  sacred  meal,  and  prayed  to  their  gods.  The  dance 
was  over. 


CHAPTER  II 

NIGHT  came  and  the  moon  rose  high.  From  house 
to  house  the  guests  were  escorted  and  feasted,  for 
no  Jemez  would  allow  a  guest  to  leave  his  house  without 
first  having  eaten  something.  Midnight  came  and  the 
owls  hooted  in  the  pifion  woods  near  by;  yet  sleep  was 
not  thought  of. 

The  drum  of  the  estufa  sounded  a  low,  calling  sound ; 
and  to  that  house  the  leading  men  of  the  village  re 
paired  for  consultation.  The  strangers  were  led  into 
the  rectangular  building  and  sat  in  dignified  silence  on 
the  floor  by  the  north  wall  beneath  the  two  rainbow  sec 
tions.  The  symbolic  drawings  of  the  gods  painted  on 
the  walls  of  the  edifice  were  not  more  immovable  than 
they,  as  the  aged,  gray-haired  cacique  prayed  to  his  gods 
and  sprinkled  all  with  sacred  meal.  Having  finished  his 
official  duty  he  likewise  seated  himself.  For  a  few  min 
utes  all  was  still,  till  the  stillness  made  itself  felt.  Then 
there  was  a  grunt  from  several  of  the  Indians.  Many 
of  the  Jemez  present  uttered  a  low  exclamation,  "  Oh, 
oh,  oh,  hang!"  indicating  that  they  were  all  ready  for 
the  business  of  the  night. 

Again  silence.  Little  would  a  looker-on  have  believed 
or  even  imagined  that  the  destiny  of  New  Mexico  was  in 
the  balance,  that  the  actors  in  that  hall  would  decide  its 
fate  for  years  to  come,  but  the  grave  and  stoical  faces 
might  cause  one  to  pause  and  think.  The  silence  was 

18 


DON  DIEGO  19 

broken  by  Don  Diego's  rising.  He  passed  around  par 
tially  pulverized  tobacco  leaves  in  an  earthen  jar,  also  a 
bundle  of  the  inner,  finer  husks  that  surrounded  the  ear  of 
corn  when  growing.  Each  individual  helped  himself  to  a 
small  handful  of  tobacco  and  a  cornhusk.  Cutting  the 
cornhusk  crosswise  so  as  to  make  it  a  suitable  length, 
the  tobacco  was  recrushed  in  the  hand  that  held  it  and 
then  poured  into  the  husk.  When  the  husk  was  rolled 
into  a  cigarette,  the  outer  edge  was  moistened  with  the 
lips  so  that  it  would  adhere  to  the  rolled  surface  under 
neath  it.  When  all  the  cigarettes  had  been  rolled,  a  dish 
containing  live-coals  was  passed  around ;  and  soon  every 
one  was  sending  rings  of  smoke  upward  as  prayers  to 
the  gods,  whose  symbols  looked  down  upon  them  from 
the  imposing  walls. 

When  all  had  partaken  of  the  ceremonial  smoke,  the 
cacique  nodded  to  Don  Diego,  and  he  at  once  opened  the 
conference. 

"  These,"  he  said,  "  our  brethern,  are  here  from  differ 
ent  tribes  to  see  us  on  important  business, —  business 
which  by  their  request  must  be  kept  secret,  not  even  the 
women  of  the  village  are  to  be  told  it.  Our  Spanish 
authorities  have  been  to  Santa  Fe  for  a  feast  for  several 
days;  and,  in  their  absence,  we  had  our  forbidden  spe 
cial  ceremony.  This  evening  they  returned.  Knowing 
that  the  white  men  must  sleep,  I  have  waited  till  they 
have  retired  before  calling  the  meeting.  They  do  not 
know  that  these,  our  friends,  are  here,  as  they  came  late 
and  have  not  been  to  our  part  of  the  village  since  return 
ing.  We  must  proceed  with  the  business  before  us  with 
dispatch  and  finish  it  before  the  red-fingered  morning 
appears.  Our  friends  and  brothers  wish  to  leave  us 


20  DON  DIEGO 

with  the  coming  of  the  morning  star.  My  brother  Pope 
of  San  Juan,  now  of  Taos,  will  address  you." 

Again  there  was  silence,  broken  only  by  an  occasional 
grunt.  Pope  half  arose  and  said  that  he  had  wished 
Ojeda  of  Santa  Anna  to  talk  to  them  first,  as  the  Jemez 
were  acquainted  with  him.  As  the  stately  San  Juan  In 
dian  seated  himself  again  and  put  his  face  between  his 
hands,  several  of  the  Indians  called,  "Ojeda!  Ojeda!" 
After  some  hesitation,  Ojeda  arose.  Having  blown  his 
breath  gently  through  his  hands  toward  the  symbol  of 
light  on  the  east  wall  before  him,  then  again  blowing 
his  breath  straight  before  him  and  lifting  his  hands 
over  his  hearers  as  if  in  blessing,  he  began  his  speech : 

"  My  brothers,"  he  said,  "  it  would  have  pleased  me 
to  have  my  friends  here  talk  first,  as  I  represent  only 
one  Pueblo  and  they  represent  practically  all  the  Pueblos. 
I  am  a  young  man  and  do  not  have  the  experience  of 
years  that  they  have.  Nevertheless  it  gives  me  pleasure 
to  address  you. 

"  My  friends  and  brothers  here  have  come  to  talk  to 
you.  They  wish  to  talk  to  you  about  the  pale- faces  who 
came  to  this  country  from  the  southland  and  who  have 
always  cruelly  treated  us. 

"  The  first  pale- faces,  according  to  the  traditions  of 
my  people,  came  to  this  region  by  way  of  the  buffalo 
country  and  passed  through  our  lands  toward  the  boiling 
ocean.  There  were  three  white  men  and  a  negro.  They 
pretended  to  be  medicine  men ;  and  everywhere  they  went 
they  doctored  the  sick.  They  had  some  great  mysterious 
power  and  helped  the  suffering  with  it.  They  also  could 
do  many  mysterious  things.  They  could  take  a  single 
feather  and  perform  over  it  under  a  blanket  a  little 


DON  DIEGO  21 

while,  and  then  remove  the  blanket  and  there  would  be 
an  armful  of  feathers.  They  could  blow  a  small  pebble 
through  a  cowhide  and  not  make  a  hole  in  the  hide. 
They  could  make  the  native  medicine  men  do  anything 
they  wished  without  their  touching  them  or  saying  a 
word  to  them,  even  cause  them  to  try  to  climb  a  wall  and 
do  all  other  sorts  of  absurd  things.  The  man  with  the 
,  longest  whiskers  had  the  most  power.  He  would  pick 
up  and  carry  about  scorching  hot  stones,  handle  fire,  and 
dance  about  on  burning  objects  without  the  fire  hurting 
him.  He  would  take  a  snake  out  of  his  neck.  He 
would  drink  two  large  jars  of  water  at  one  time,  as  much 
water  as  two  women  could  carry.  He  would  talk  with 
one's  dead ! " 

A  solemn  hush  fell  at  the  recital  of  magic,  but  Ojeda 
went  on.  "  But  they  soon  went  to  the  land  toward  the 
south,  as  their  course  was  continually  westward  and 
southward.  After  they  had  been  gone  a  short  while, 
the  black  man  came  back  to  Cibola  [Zuni].  He  came 
to  the  village  farthest  toward  the  sun  at  noon.  He 
was  unwelcomely  received  by  the  people  there.  It  then 
developed  that  the  first  party  that  passed  through  the 
land  were  spies.  To  appear  big  and  important  and  as 
evidence  of  position  and  authority,  the  negro  sent  a 
gourd  as  a  present  to  the  Zufiis  while  he  was  yet  a  con 
siderable  distance  from  the  village.  On  this  gourd-rat 
tle  were  suspended  a  few  strings  and  two  large  eagle 
feathers ;  the  one  white,  the  other  red.  This  was  a 
declaration  of  war.  The  chief  who  received  the  present 
told  the  messenger  who  brought  it  that  they  would  be 
ready  for  the  fight  and  that  they  would  be  prepared  to 
kill  the  strangers.  But  the  Black  Mexican  came  on, 


22  DON  DIEGO 

with  his  little  army,  sure  that  my  people  would  surren 
der  without  fighting. 

"  He  came.  He  had  a  beard.  He  dressed  in  the  outfit 
of  both  a  war  chief  and  a  medicine  man,  wearing  things 
that  sounded, —  rattles,  bells,  and  plumes  on  his  feet  and 
arms.  He  was  a  man  to  be  feared.  He  came;  but  he 
nor  his  men  were  allowed  to  enter  the  main  village. 
Instead  they  were  put  under  guard.  He  talked  big  to 
the  chief  men.  He  told  them  of  his  God  and  of  the 
great  chief  who  ruled  the  whole  earth.  He  showed  his 
red  lips  and  the  whites  of  his  eyes  extra  large  and  de 
manded  my  people  to  be  subjects  to  his  majesty  and  to 
give  him,  his  lord's  ambassador,  all  the  treasures  they 
had,  turquoise,  gold,  silver,  and  other  valuables,  also 
all  the  young  and  beautiful  women.  But  they  gave  him 
nothing.  They  took  away  from  him  the  things  which 
he  had  brought  with  him,  much  turquoise  and  many 
other  things,  and  he  was  given  nothing  to  eat  and  drink. 
The  next  morning  his  big  talk  had  left  him,  and  he 
tried  to  run  away,  saying  that  he  would  bring  warriors 
and  not  guests  against  the  place.  But  he  was  overtaken 
and  killed.  Most  of  those  with  him,  however,  were  al 
lowed  to  return  peacefully  to  their  own  land,  as  they  said 
the  black  man  was  at  fault  for  their  coming  there. 

"  Before  the  second  harvest  after  the  Black  Mexican 
was  killed,  a  general  with  an  army  of  men  came  from 
the  southland  by  the  same  route  which  the  other  party 
had  come.  They  came  to  the  same  Cibola  village,  Ha- 
wikuh,  and  at  once  demanded  it  to  surrender.  But  they 
refused  to  surrender  and  drew  lines  on  the  ground  with 
yellow  corn  pollen  and  told  the  strangers  to  stay  outside 
of  that  line.  The  strangers,  however,  paid  no  attention. 


DON  DIEGO  23 

They  crossed  the  forbidden  line  on  their  horses,  a  new 
and  monstrous  beast  to  our  people ;  and  charged  upon  the 
villagers,  who  fled  behind  the  walls.  Then  the  pale 
faces  charged  against  the  walled  fortress.  Our  people 
fought  desperately,  but  were  defeated  and  the  village 
taken  after  they  had  lost  many  warriors  and  had  killed1 
or  disabled  many  of  the  soldiers.  Twice  they  knocked 
the  general  [Coronado]  from  his  horse.  They  defended 
themselves  by  shooting  arrows  from  the  top  of  the  walls 
and  by  hurling  stones  down  upon  the  invaders.  Not 
withstanding  the  heroic  stand  made,  the  place  was  taken 
and  my  people  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  newcomers 
[July  7,  1540]. 

"  The  people  who  escaped  capture,"  went  on  Ojeda, 
"  then  fled  to  Taaiyalone  [Thunder  Mountain],  not  only 
the  people  from  the  captured  village  but  the  people  from 
all  the  other  villages  of  the  valley;  and  there  they  pre 
pared  to  defend  themselves.  This  mountain  village  was 
their  stronghold  and  there  they  could  defend  themselves. 
But  what  of  their  fields  and  homes?  The  enemy  had 
them.  What  was  to  be  done? 

"  A  council  of  the  '  principals '  was  called,  and  it  was 
decided  that,  as  the  strangers  wanted  gold  and  treasure 
and  had  inquired  about  nothing  else  since  coming  to  the 
country,  they  could  rid  the  region  of  them  by  telling  them 
of  vast  treasure-lands  to  the  westward  and  thus  send 
them  into  the  desert  country  to  die  of  hunger  and  thirst. 
Another  plan  was  to  persuade  them  to  go  to  the  Moqui 
country  and  get  the  Moquis  to  fall  upon  them. 

"  Both  plans  worked  and  both  failed.  The  Moquis 
backed  out  and  would  not  fight  the  strangers  and  were 
even  friendly  to  them.  And  the  party  going  into  the 


24  DON  DIEGO 

desert  in  search  of  gold,  reached  the  great  red-walled 
river  to  the  westward  and  returned.  The  Zunis.had  not 
counted  on  how  fast  the  horses  could  travel.  The  Zunis 
were,  therefore,  in  worse  straits  than  before.  It  was 
then  rumored  that  more  and  many  more  of  these  pale 
faces  were  coming.  What  were  my  people  to  do  ? 

"  Another  council  was  called,  and  it  was  decided  to 
cause  the  strangers  to  be  led  far  into  the  plains  coun 
try  toward  the  rising  sun ;  so  that  the  roving,  more  war 
like  tribes  there  would  fall  upon  and  kill  them  all.  Or, 
if  this  failed,  the  guides  were  to  lead  them  so  far  into 
that  treeless  region  that  they  would  never  be  able  to 
find  their  way  back. 

"  This  plan  met  the  approval  of  all  the  council.  And 
that  same  night,  a  messenger  was  sent  to  Cicuye  [Pecos] 
to  arrange  with  the  inhabitants  of  that  pueblo  to  carry 
out  the  plan  for  them,  as  it  was  the  last  village  toward 
the  east  and  was  situated  on  the  very  edge  of  the  great 
plains  where  the  dreaded  savages  lived. 

"  The  messenger  laid  the  plan  before  the  '  principals  ' 
of  that  pueblo  on  his  arrival.  He  explained  the  purpose 
of  the  new  peoples'  coming  was  to  get  gold  and  other 
treasures  and  that  they  had  already  declared  their  in 
tention  of  visiting  and  subduing  all  the  pueblos.  He 
then  also  told  them  of  the  monstrous  animals  they  rode ; 
that  these  animals  devoured  people,  and  that  when  going 
at  a  full  run  fire  was  often  emitted  from  their  mouths 
followed  by  a  cracking  thunder-sound.  That  the  men 
also  carried  a  stick  and  holding  it  straight  out  in  front 
of  them  and  looking  down  it,  it  emitted  lightning  from 
the  end  out  from  the  holder  and  also  produced  the  thun 
der-noise  like  the  thunder-bird  produces  when  he  flaps 


DON  DIEGO  25 

his  wings  above  the  raging  storm.  Several  of  the 
'  principals '  at  first  objected  to  the  bringing  of  these 
dreaded  people  into  their  country.  But  when  they 
learned  that  the  strangers  were  going  to  come  anyway, 
all  agreed  that  it  was  best  to  prepare  for  them.  At 
all  events,  they  must  get  them  through  the  country  as 
soon  as  possible,  if  they  would  visit  it  anyway.  They 
must  get  them  into  the  savage  country  in  the  winter, 
where  a  storm  would  kill  them,  if  the  savages  there  did 
not  before  that  time,  or  something  else  happen  to  them: 
anything  to  get  rid  of  the  terrible  people,  their  horrid 
beasts,  and  their  thunder-fire. 

"  According  to  the  compact  agreed  upon,  all  the  pueblos 
were  to  be  friendly  so  as  not  to  cause  any  excuse  for 
destroying  any  of  the  villages  or  killing  any  of  the  in 
habitants.  Messengers  were  to  be  sent  to  Zufii  pretend 
ing  they  wished  to  see  the  godly  people,  their  cross,  and 
their  robed  priests,  and  to  invite  them  to  visit  Pecos  as 
their  guests.  In  the  meantime,  all  preparations  were 
to  be  made  to  lead  them  into  the  far  unknown  from 
which  no  Pueblo  had  ever  returned.  A  slave,  a  native 
of  a  country  far  toward  the  sunrise  in  summer  "  [from 
near  Florida]  "  was  promised  his  freedom  if  he  would 
lead  the  strangers  into  the  trackless,  savage  region  and 
see  that  they  perished  there.  This  he  at  once  agreed  to 
do,  and,  with  the  aid  of  others,  set  about  immediately  to 
prepare  untrue  stories  of  the  marvelous  wealth  of  that 
far-off  region  of  the  East  so  that  he  would  be  ready  to 
tell  them  to  the  pale-faces  as  soon  as  they  arrived  at 
Pecos ;  for  it  was  wished  to  get  the  strange  people  on  the 
plains  before  the  winter  set  in. 

"  According  to  the  plan,  a  party  of  our  people  led 


26  DON  DIEGO 

by  one  Whiskers,  called  Bigotes  by  the  Spaniards  be 
cause  he  wore  a  long  mustache,  set  out  from  Pecos  to 
Zuni.  They  carried  with  them  presents  of  tanned  hides, 
shells,  and  head-pieces  to  give  to  the  strangers  to  show 
that  they  desired  to  be  their  friends. 

"  They  arrived  at  Zuni,  as  planned,  presented  their 
gifts  to  the  white  chief,  and  were  warmly  received  by 
him  and  his  people.  For  several  days  they  visited  with 
each  other,  the  Pecos  never  offering  information  on  any 
subject  unless  first  asked  about  it.  The  white  people 
inquired  about  gold,  if  they  had  any  gold  or  turquoise 
in  their  village,  to  which  they  answered  that  they  had 
no  gold  and  only  a  small  amount  of  turquoise.  Then 
they  asked  about  the  hides  that  they  had  brought  with 
them  and  the  drawings  on  them.  In  answer,  the  In 
dians  stated  that  there  were  countless  numbers  of  these 
kind  of  '  cows '  in  their  land  on  the  side  of  the  rising 
sun.  The  Indians  also  had  some  of  the  dried  meat  with 
them,  and  they  showed  it  to  the  white  people.  Finally, 
Bigotes,  who  was  a  tall,  well-built  young  fellow,  with 
a  fine  figure,  invited  them  to  see  their  country  and  go 
and  kill  some  of  the  '  cows.'  But  the  messengers  said 
nothing  about  gold.  That  was  the  business  of  the  slaves. 

"  For  several  days  there  were  council  meetings  of 
the  white  people.  Finally  they  decided  to  go  and  see  the 
'  cows  ' ;  but  only  a  part  of  the  pale- faces  were  ordered 
to  go  with  Bigotes  and  not  the  whole  army  that  was 
at  Zuiii  then,  not  counting  the  main  body  which  was  re 
ported  to  be  somewhere  in  the  wilderness  of  the  Apache 
country  on  their  march  thither.  Great  was  the  disap 
pointment;  but  the  best  possible  under  the  circumstances 
was  done,  with  the  hopes  that  good  reports  would  cause 


DON  DIEGO  27 

the  whole  army  to  follow.  Bigotes  did  not  appear  to  be 
over  anxious  for  them  to  go  to  his  country;  but,  as  a 
friend,  he  consented  to  lead  them  through  the  Pueblo 
country  to  his  home. 

"  When  ready,  the  expedition,  under  one  of  the  sub 
ordinate  white  chiefs  [Captain  Hernando  Alvarado], 
started  on  its  journey  [Aug.  29th].  In  five  days 
they  came  to  Acoma,  the  high-rock  village.  Here  the 
people  came  down  on  the  plain  to  fight.  They  drew 
lines  on  the  ground  with  sacred  meal  and  told  the 
strange  people  not  to  cross  it;  but  seeing  that  the  pale 
faces  would  fight  and  being  afraid  of  the  horses,  they 
made  peace  with  them,  though  the  strongly  fortified  vil 
lage  could  not  have  been  taken.  They  also  made  pres 
ents  to  the  white  people  of  turkeys,  corn,  cornmeal, 
bread,  and  dried  skins,  believing  it  was  best  to  let  them 
go  to  the  plains  as  planned. 

"  From  Acoma,  the  army  traveled  northeastward  and 
came  to  Tiguex  [Bernalillo,  New  Mexico],  the  home 
of  my  people.  Here  the  party  with  Whiskers  were  well 
treated,  feasted,  and  caused  to  speed  on  their  journey, 
while  white  messengers  went  back  to  the  big  white  chief 
with  the  glittering  armor.  In  five  more  days  they 
reached  Pecos,  where  they  were  welcomed  with  signs  of 
joy  by  the  populace:  they  went  out  to  meet  them  and 
then  escorted  them  into  the  village  with  drums  and  flute- 
like  pipes. 

"  Here  they  rested,  and,  as  planned,  they  met  the  slave 
from  the  country  towards  the  rising  sun  [Florida].  He 
told  them  of  the  rich  country,  of  such  great  things,  and 
of  great  quantities  of  gold  and  silver  there.  For  sev 
eral  days  they  questioned  this  slave.  They  then  had 


28  DON  DIEGO 

him  act  as  their  guide  to  the  country  of  the  'cows'; 
but  they  could  not  be  induced  to  go  far  into  the  un 
known  region.  They  seemed  to  have  lost  their  desire 
to  look  for  the  '  cows,'  and  wished  to  return  to  report 
the  prospect  of  getting  rich  to  their  big  chief.  So  they 
returned  soon  to  Tiguex  by  a  detour  route  so  as  to  visit 
several  of  the  other  pueblos  en  route  farther  up  the  Rio 
Grande,  taking  Turk,  as  they  called  the  slave,  along 
with  them  so  that  he  could  talk  to  the  chief  white  man 
himself. 

"  Arriving  at  Tiguex,  they  found  another  subordinate 
officer  with  a  part  of  the  white  army  there.  That  of 
ficer's  name  was  Don  Garcia  Lopez  de  Cardenas.  Coro- 
nado  came  later  by  a  detour  by  the  way  of  Tutahaco 
and  Ysleta  with  about  thirty  men.  And  several  moons 
afterwards,  the  main  army  also  followed  under  Don 
Tristan  de  Arellano. 

"  Here  at  Tiguex,  Cardenas  and  Alvarado  began  to 
prepare  for  winter  quarters,  to  the  great  disappointment 
of  the  natives,  as  they  had  still  hoped  that  Turk  would 
be  able  to  lead  the  strangers  into  the  land  of  savages 
and  blizzards  without  their  staying  any  length  of  time 
in  the  Pueblo  country.  These  two  lieutenants  forced 
the  Indians  to  abandon  one  of  their  villages  to  them  and 
to  leave  to  them  all  they  had,  except  the  clothing  they 
had  on. 

"  Soon  after  the  taking  of  the  village,  the  big  white 
chief  came.  There  at  the  village  he  met  Turk.  And 
upon  request,  Turk  again  told  the  story  of  the  marvel 
ous  rich  country  toward  the  place  where  the  sun  rises. 
He  said  that  in  this  country  there  was  a  river  in  the 
level  country  which  was  two  leagues  wide,  in  which 


DON  DIEGO  29 

there  were  fishes  as  big  as  horses,  and  large  numbers  of 
very  big  canoes,  with  more  than  twenty  rowers  on  a  side, 
and  that  they  carried  sails,  and  that  their  lords  sat  on 
the  poop  under  awnings,  and  on  the  prow  they  had  a 
great  golden  eagle.  He  said  also  that  the  lord  of  that 
country  took  his  afternoon  nap  under  a  great  tree  on 
which  were  hung  a  great  number  of  gold  bells,  which 
put  him  to  sleep  as  they  swung  in  the  air.  He  also  said 
that  everyone  had  their  ordinary  dishes  made  of  wrought 
plate,  and  the  jugs  and  bowls  were  of  gold. 

"  After  hearing  the  story,  Coronado  brought  several 
kinds  of  metals  for  him  to  look  at  to  see  if  he  knew 
gold  and  silver  from  other  metals.  And  he  did ;  for  the 
envoys  from  Zuni  had  shown  him  gold  and  silver 
pieces,  so  that  he  would  know  them  when  tested.  Of 
course  the  Spaniards  did  not  know  this.  Consequently 
they  gave  credit  to  his  story.  And  such  good  news 
caused  no  slight  joy  among  the  soldiers ;  but  Turk  could 
not  induce  them  to  go  in  search  of  the  precious  metals 
till  spring.  This  was  very  unfortunate. 

"Not  only  was  that  unfortunate;  but  Turk,  when 
questioned  if  he  had  anything  of  gold  on  his  person 
when  taken  prisoner  by  the  Pecos,  stated  that  he  had 
some  little  bells  and  some  gold  bracelets;  this  he  said 
to  verify  his  statements  that  gold  was  so  plentiful  in  that 
land  he  had  described,  known  as  Quivira.  Coronado, 
thereupon,  asked  him  what  had  become  of  the  bracelets. 
To  the  question  he  replied  that  the  Pecos  had  taken 
them  from  him  at  the  time  of  his  capture.  He  had  been 
lying  all  the  while  and  had  to  cover  his  tracks  by  an 
other  untruth.  At  once  Alvarado  was  ordered  back  to 
Pecos  to  get  the  bracelets,  as  these  would  be  proof  of 


30  DON  DIEGO 

the  gold  in  the  country  the  slave  had  told  them  about. 
But  arriving  at  the  place,  Alvarado  could  find  no  trace 
of  the  bracelets,  everyone  saying  that  Turk  was  deceiv 
ing  the  white  people.  Not  being  able  to  get  the  treas 
ures,  Alvarado  arrested  Whiskers  and  the  governor  and 
took  them  in  chains  to  Tiguex.  This  move  made  our 
people  plan  all  the  harder  to  rid  the  country  of  the 
strangers.  But  winter  was  at  hand;  and  such  a  terrible 
winter ! 

"  Not  only  were  the  strangers  occupying  the  best  quar 
ters,  the  best  village  of  our  people,  and  had  taken  pos 
session  of  all  the  corn  and  other  things  that  the  people 
had;  but  soon  they  began  to  levy  on  the  neighboring 
villages  for  corn  for  themselves  and  horses.  Then  the 
big  white  chief  gave  orders  for  the  pueblos  to  furnish 
cloth  for  the  soldiers  to  make  into  wearing  material. 
He  ordered  one  of  us,  whom  they  called  Dutch  Jack, 
to  go  and  get  the  cloth,  three  hundred  or  more  pieces. 
But  Jack  said  he  was  not  able  to  do  it;  but  that  it  per 
tained  to  the  governors  of  the  different  villages,  and  that 
the  amounts  should  be  divided  among  the  villages  and 
that  the  demand  should  be  made  on  each  village  sep 
arately.  This  the  general  did  and  sent  men  to  the  vil 
lages  on  each  side  of  the  river  to  collect  the  amounts 
demanded.  But  the  collectors  became  impatient,  since 
with  us  everything  must  be  decided  on  in  council  before 
any  open  action  is  taken  on  it.  They  not  only  became 
impatient,  but  also  some  of  the  blankets  and  cloth  given 
them  were  not  good  enough  to  suit  them.  So  when 
they  saw  a  good  suit  they  stripped  it  off  the  wearer 
and  appropriated  it  without  more  ado.  This  of  course 
caused  more  intense  hard  feelings.  In  addition,  they 


DON  DIEGO  31 

mistreated  the  women  of  the  villages;  and,  when  com 
plaint  was  made  to  Coronado,  they  got  no  redress  for 
their  grievances,  got  no  satisfaction  whatever. 

"  The  next  day  following  the  day  on  which  the  In 
dians  complained  to  the  general,  we  began  retaliatory 
measures.  We  captured  the  band  of  horses  that  was 
feeding  in  the  valley  of  the  lower  Jemez  River  in  about 
where  old  Santa  Anna  is  situated,  and  began  to  drive 
them  off,  At  this  juncture,  a  party  of  Spaniards  came 
to  the  rescue  of  the  herdsmen  and  recaptured  the  greater 
part  of  the  animals.  We,  however,  succeeded  in  driving 
many  of  them  and  seven  of  the  general's  mules  into  the 
central  plaza  of  our  respective  villages.  There  the  beasts 
were  forced  to  run  the  gauntlet,  were  chased  around  and 
around  the  inclosure  and  shot  at  with  arrows  and  stoned 
while  the  people  danced  the  war  dance  on  their  roofs. 
While  this  performance  was  going  on,  several  of  the 
Spaniards  came  and  tried  to  get  our  people  to  make 
peace.  But  the  time  of  peace  was  passed.  We  were 
ready  to  fight. 

"  Coronado  then  sent  Cardenas  with  the  army  to  punish 
my  people.  He  attacked  the  village  of  my  fathers. 
They  [the  Spaniards]  attacked  it  suddenly;  and,  getting 
inside  the  plaza,  fought  a  fierce  hand-to-hand  fight  for  an 
hour,  but  were  defeated  and  escape  through  the  entrance 
to  the  village  cut  off.  But  by  seizing  some  of  the  ladders, 
they  gained  the  roof  of  the  upper  story  of  the  houses, 
and  there  they  made  a  final  stand.  A  terrible  conflict 
followed.  Sometimes  our  people  were  victorious; 
sometimes  the  pale- faces.  Our  people,  however,  were 
afraid  of  the  thunder-sound  of  the  stick  the  white  man 
used  to  send  bolts  of  lightning  into  their  crowded  ranks. 


32  DON  DIEGO 

But  they  were  able  to  wound  many  of  the  enemy,  not 
withstanding  that  they  wore  such  strong  clothes  [ar 
mor].  For  nearly  two  days  the  battle  raged,  and  the 
contest  was  much  in  favor  of  the  Indians,  when  the 
horsemen  and  native  allies  from  Mexico  cut  holes  into 
the  lower  stories  of  the  houses  and  into  the  estufas 
and  smoked  the  people  out  into  the  open  plaza,  where 
they  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  accurate  marksmen  on 
the  village  roofs.  But  even  then  we  were  the  victors, 
had  we  but  known  it.  The  cacique,  however,  being 
wounded,  advised  the  village  people  to  surrender  or  flee 
from  the  place.  But  the  war-captain  said  he  would  not 
surrender  and  went  about  encouraging  the  men  in  a  vig 
orous  harangue,  calling  upon  the  gods  to  help  them.  A 
bullet  struck  him  down.  My  people  having  lost  their 
leader,  there  was  a  momentary  lull  in  the  attack,  which 
was  made  use  of  by  the  Spaniards  who  were  now  driven 
to  the  last  extremity,  their  position  then  being  an  ex 
ceedingly  perilous  one.  What  they  could  not  do  by 
arms  they  now  did  by  artifice.  They  induced  our  war 
riors  to  surrender  by  promising  them  ample  protection 
and  safety,  sealing  the  same  by  making  the  sign  of  the 
cross. 

"  Having  surrendered  and  laid  down  their  arms,  the 
Indians  were  taken  to  the  tent  of  Cardenas,  who  had 
been  with  the  horsemen  on  the  plains  in  front  of  the  vil 
lage.  He  at  once  violated  the  pledge  given  the  Indians. 
He  ordered  the  captives  burned  at  the  stake,  as  a  warn 
ing  to  the  neighboring  tribes.  Two  hundred  were 
burned  and  many  more  were  run  down  and  killed  while 
attempting  to  escape.  Not  a  warrior  of  the  village  es 
caped;  nearly  all  the  women  and  children  had  perished 


DON  DIEGO  33 

previously.  From  that  on  it  was  a  by-word  among  the 
different  pueblos :  '  The  white  men  are  liars,  they  will 
not  keep  their  word,  even  when  they  call  upon  their  gods 
to  witness  it.' 

"  But  the  fate  of  the  pueblos  was  sealed.  The  keep 
ing  of  the  Pecos  chiefs  in  chains  and  the  burning  of  the 
warriors  at  the  stake,  after  they  had  surrendered,  caused 
the  Indians  of  the  other  pueblos  to  remain  hostile.  Sev 
eral  attempts  were  made  to  get  them  to  make  peace ;  they 
were  told  that  they  would  be  pardoned  and  would  be 
safe  from  any  punishment  for  past  offenses.  They, 
however,  would  not  accept  any  terms.  Each  time  such 
an  offer  was  made  they  told  the  Spaniards  that  they  did 
not  know  how  to  keep  good  faith  after  they  had  once 
given  it,  that  they  could  not  be  trusted. 

"  Two  moons  of  severe  winter  weather  passed  and 
the  strangers  were  in  sore  straits,  for  their  provisions 
were  most  gone.  So  they  set  out  to  get  food  by  any 
means  whatever:  by  making  peace  with  the  Indians, 
if  possible;  if  that  could  not  be  accomplished,  then  a 
resort  to  arms  would  be  used.  And  they  preferred  the 
latter. 

"  They  decided  to  get  possession  of  the  town  called 
Tiguex,  from  which  the  country  and  river  were  named. 
In  this  village  lived  the  man  they  called  Dutch  Jack. 
They  thought  they  would  hire  him  to  persuade  the  other 
members  of  the  tribe  to  make  peace;  or  surrender  the 
fortress  to  them.  They  came  within  hallooing  distance 
of  the  village  and  called  for  'Jack';  and  succeeded  in 
getting  a  conference  with  him.  He,  however,  would 
not  agree  to  their  terms.  They  then  sought  to  kill  him ; 
but  he  was  rescued,  a  Spaniard  of  rank  being  nearly 


34  DON  DIEGO 

killed  in  the  melee.  The  village  was  then  besieged  for 
fifty-one  days.  The  fighting  was  of  the  fiercest  from 
the  beginning  to  the  tragic  end.  Water  became  scarce. 
A  large  well  was  dug;  but  it  caved  in  and  killed  thirty 
people.  Two  hundred  more  were  killed  in  battle.  Part 
of  the  women  and  children  were  surrendered  to  the 
enemy  to  keep  them  from  perishing  of  thirst  and  hun 
ger.  The  warriors  still  held  out  for  fifteen  days  longer. 
Finally  when  all  the  water  and  provisions  were 
gone,  they  attempted  to  leave  the  village  by  stealth  in 
the  night;  but  they  were  discovered  and  many  of  them 
run  down  and  killed  by  the  cavalry;  or  driven  into  the 
icy  waters  of  the  river,  where  they  drowned  or  perished 
of  cold,  after  gaining  the  opposite  bank.  A  few  were 
captured  and  made  slaves. 

"  Another  large  village  near  this  one  was  captured 
about  this  time,  most  of  the  inhabitants  being  killed  in 
its  capture. 

"  All  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  region,  seeing 
how  their  neighbors  had  been  treated,  fled  to  the  moun 
tains  and  left  the  country  and  their  belongings  in  the 
enemy's  possession. 

"  Coronado  then  visited  many  of  the  villages  of  the 
other  tribes,  sending  men  here  and  to  Zia  to  get  things 
to  eat  and  to  procure  clothing  for  his  men.  While 
making  the  tour,  he  left  six  worthless  cannon  at  Zia 
as  a  gift  to  them,  so  that  they  would  not  join  in  war 
against  them.  He  also  went  to  Pecos  at  this  time  to 
pacify  the  people  there,  taking  Whiskers  and  the  Pecos 
governor  with  him.  He  was  trying  to  leave  the  coun 
try  in  peace  so  as  to  go  in  search  of  Quivira.  After 
being  in  Pecos  a  few  days  he  returned,  bringing  the  two 


DON  DIEGO  35 

prisoners,  Whiskers  and  the  governor,  with  him,  but 
leaving  the  people  there  in  a  peaceful  mood;  he  had 
promised  them  that  he  would  free  the  prisoners  from 
their  village  as  soon  as  he  started  on  his  eastern  jour 
ney. 

"  Returning  to  Tiguex,  the  general  hastened  prepa 
rations  and  was  soon  on  the  march  eastward  [starting 
from  Tiguex,  April  23,  1541].  Arriving  at  Pecos,  he 
left  Whiskers  and  the  Pecos  governor.  He  then  pro 
ceeded  onward  with  Turk,  as  a  guide;  everything  was 
going  well,  except  that,  unfortunately,  the  Pecos  not 
knowing  much  about  where  Quivira,  the  country  of  the 
great  wealth  was,  the  governor  and  Whiskers  had 
given  the  general  another  slave,  an  actual  native  of 
Quivira,  to  act  as  guide,  also  another  of  that  same  vil 
lage  by  the  name  of  Ysopete,  all  of  whom  had  been 
promised  their  freedom  if  they  would  see  that  the  pale 
faces  never  returned. 

"  Day  after  day  they  journeyed  with  their  course  a  lit 
tle  south  of  east,  Turk  acting  as  guide;  and  day  after 
day  they  got  farther  and  farther  from  their  base  of  sup 
plies.  Finally  it  was  made  evident  that  Turk  had  been 
lying,  as  villages  and  camps  that  he  mentioned  were  not 
to  be  found  where  he  said  they  were.  Yet  on  they 
marched.  At  last  the  guides  quarreled  about  the  di 
rection.  It  then  developed  that  Turk  was  not  a  native 
of  Quivira,  but  of  a  tribe  of  Indians  farther  to  the 
southward.  He,  however,  was  still  allowed  to  act  as 
guide.  On  they  went.  Unfortunately  the  natives  of 
the  prairies  were  afraid  of  the  horses  and  did  not  at 
tack  them,  though  all  three  of  the  guides  tried  time  and 
again  to  induce  them  to  do  so.  The  corn  and  other 


36  DON  DIEGO 

supplies  they  had  brought  from  Tiguex  were  nearly  ex 
hausted  and  the  horses  were  tired  and  weak  from  the 
constant  traveling.  Then  a  halt  was  called  [on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Canadian  river  in  Oklahoma],  From 
there  Coronado  and  thirty  of  his  men  on  horseback 
started  in  a  north  direction  for  Quivira,  with  Turk  and 
Ysopete  as  guides.  The  rest  of  the  army  returned  by 
a  direct  route  to  Tiguex,  having  some  trouble  with  the 
Pecos  on  the  way.  The  general  went  with  his  men  in 
a  north-northeast  direction,  crossed  a  river  with  a  big 
bend  [Arkansas  river  near  Ft.  Dodge,  Kansas],  thence 
on  till  he  reached  Quivira  [near  Kansas  City,  Kansas]. 
But  finding  no  gold  and  only  some  people  who  raised 
a  little  corn  and  hunted  '  cows/  he  garroted  the  un 
truthful  Turk  and  returned  also  to  Tiguex. 

"  The  Indian  knew  nothing  about  the  white  man's 
compass  and  that  was  why  all  the  plans  failed  and  the 
hated  people  were  back  on  the  Rio  Grande  the  next  win 
ter. 

"  After  the  army  returned  to  Tiguex  and  the  general 
had  also  returned  from  Quivira,  they  all  went  into  win 
ter  quarters.  There  they  remained  till  the  following 
spring,  sending  out  parties  to  beg,  or  confiscate  sup 
plies  from  the  neighboring  villages,  as  dire  necessity 
demanded ;  for  the  Tiguex,  though  they  had  returned  to 
their  respective  villages  when  the  army  started  for  Qui 
vira,  abandoned  the  region  and  took  all  their  belongings 
with  them  when  the  army  returned.  Nothing  else  of 
importance  happened  during  that  seemingly  never-end 
ing  winter. 

"  As  spring  approached,  it  was  rumored  that  the  gen 
eral  was  making  preparations  for  another  extended  trip 


DON  DIEGO  37 

northward  and  eastward  in  search  of  gold  the  next  sum 
mer  and  that  a  division  of  the  army  would  remain  at 
Tiguex  and  prepare  for  keeping  the  whole  army  there 
or  at  some  other  village  farther  up  the  river  the  next 
winter.  At  the  same  time  we  learned  that  the  army, 
for  the  most  part,  were  wishing  to  return  to  Mexico 
and  that  Coronado  alone  was  in  the  way  of  their  return 
ing.  My  people,  therefore,  called  a  big  meeting.  By 
any  means  whatever,  they  were  willing  to  rid  the  coun 
try  of  these  people.  They  had  tried  losing  them  on  the 
plains  and  it  seemed  useless  to  attempt  it  again.  It  was, 
therefore,  decided  to  kill  the  white  war  chief;  his  peo 
ple  could  then  return  to  the  southland  from  whence 
they  had  come.  This  had  to  be  done  at  once,  as  re- 
enforcements  were  said  to  be  en  route  to  the  valley  of 
our  river.  The  servants  [slaves]  were  entrusted  with 
the  task;  and  they  found  it  easy  to  accomplish,  though 
it  did  not  prove  fatal  to  him  as  was  planned,  but  the  re 
sult  desired  was  obtained. 

"  One  feast  day  the  general  proposed  to  have  a  tilt 
on  horseback  with  one  of  his  captains  [Don  Rodrigo 
Maldonado].  The  Indian  servants  went  to  the  band  of 
horses  and  procured  the  animals  as  usual.  They  got 
the  largest  and  most  powerful  horse  for  the  general. 
The  saddle  blanket  they  filled  with  cactus  spines.  Then 
they  took  off  the  saddle  girth  and  put  in  its  place  a  rot 
ten  one.  Then  when  all  was  ready,  they  saddled  the 
horse  and  helped  that  distinguished  officer  mount.  The 
tournament  was  on.  The  general  charged  his  opponent. 
At  the  same  time  the  horse,  being  pricked  with  the  cac 
tus  needles,  began  to  rear  and  buck.  The  girth  broke 
and  the  rider  was  hurled  under  the  heels  of  the  other 


38  DON  DIEGO 

rider's  horse.  The  horse  struck  him  on  the  head  with 
his  hoof  and  nearly  killed  him.  After  that  for  a  long 
time  he  was  sick  almost  unto  death.  Finally  he  got 
some  better  and  consented  to  withdraw  from  the  re 
gion. 

"  Accordingly,  in  a  few  days  they  started  back  over 
the  route  over  which  they  had  come.  They  passed  Zufii 
and  then  went  on  southward  into  the  Apache  wilderness 
and  were  seen  no  more.  A  few  missionaries  were  left 
behind,  that  was  all.  It  was  learned  in  recent  years 
that,  after  reaching  his  home,  the  white  chief  died  of  a 
broken  heart. 

"  When  the  people  saw  that  the  pale- faces  were  in 
deed  gone,  they  had  a  great  jollification  and  for  days 
and  days  they  danced  the  Devil's  Dance  around  the  vil 
lages  that  the  white  people  had  lived  in.  Then  peace 
settled  down  upon  the  whole  land." 

Ojeda  seated  himself,  and  was  sprinkled  with  sacred 
meal  by  the  cacique  and  given  a  lighted  cornhusk  ciga 
rette  by  the  war-captain,  Don  Diego. 

Then  Francisco  of  San  Ildefonso  arose  at  a  nod  from 
Pope. 

"  My  brothers,"  he  began,  after  blowing  his  breath  in 
blessing  over  his  hearers  and  extending  his  hands  out 
ward  toward  the  symbolic  designs  on  the  painted  walls 
and  toward  the  abode  of  those  above,  "  what  our  brother 
of  Santa  Anna  has  told  you  is  all  true,  and  more.  From 
the  first  coming  of  the  pale- faces  from  the  land  toward 
the  boiling  ocean,  it  has  been  flogging,  peonage,  impris 
onment,  and  death  to  our  people.  It  is  true  that  after 
Coronado  returned  to  Mexico  we  had  peace  for  a  con 
siderable  time;  for  his  people  all  returned  with  him. 


DON  DIEGO  39 

Then  about  one  hundred  summers  ago  a  small  party  of 
Spaniards  [the  Espejo  expedition,  1582]  came  through 
our  country  again.  They  were  treated  very  kindly  by 
our  people;  and  were  led  from  one  place  to  another, 
till,  fearing  that  we  would  lead  them  into  some  trap 
or  so  far  away  from  home  that  they  would  never  get 
back  [and  that  is  exactly  what  our  people  were  planning 
to  do  to  get  rid  of  them],  they  returned  to  their  own 
land,  but  not  by  the  way  they  had  come. 

"  After  these  people  had  gone,  we  had  peace,  but  for 
a  short  time  only.  Then  it  was  rumored  that  the  pale 
faces  were  again  coming  with  their  families  and  some 
sort  of  wagons  to  our  land  by  the  way  of  the  great  river 
which  flows  toward  the  sun  at  noon.  They,  however, 
never  reached  our  part  of  the  country.  Another  party 
of  pale-faces  came.  The  two  parties  quarreled  over  the 
property  and  the  pretty  women  that  the  first  party  had 
stolen.  The  first  party  was  overcome  by  the  last  com 
ers  and  they  were  all  taken  back  to  Mexico.  We  never 
heard  of  them  again,  except  something  about  the  great 
chief  across  the  big  waters  being  angry  with  the  first 
party  because  they  had  not  obtained  permission  from 
him  to  rob,  enslave,  and  murder  our  people. 

'  They  were  gone ;  but  soon  our  people  were  dis 
turbed  again.  Other  pale-faces  came  with  soldiers. 
They  came  by  the  plains  country  east  of  the  mountains 
east  of  the  great  river.  They  had  their  families  with 
them,  also  several  lazy  men.  They  took  the  country 
where  Santa  Fe  now  is  from  our  people  and  at  once  pro 
ceeded  to  build  a  town  there  of  their  own.  They  also 
immediately  began  to  levy  on  us  for  corn  and  other 
necessities.  Being  lazy,  too  lazy  to  work,  they  enslaved 


40  DON  DIEGO 

the  natives  and  made  them  build  their  forts  and 
churches,  wall  their  City  of  the  Holy  Faith,  and  even 
erect  their  houses  for  them.  Not  only  that,  but  they 
stole  our  young  women  and  mistreated  the  married 
women  of  our  race. 

"  When  the  new  city  was  finished,  even  before  it  was 
completed,  they  began  to  take  possession  of  the  rest  of 
the  village-country.  Our  people  have  all  been  treated  as 
slaves  and  worse  than  slaves  ever  since.  As  I  said  before, 
it  has  been  flogging,  slavery,  imprisonment,  and  death  to 
the  red-earth  people.  But  I  have  done." 

Thus  saying  he  returned  to  his  seat  beneath  the  rain 
bow  sections,  and  was  sprinkled  with  sacred  meal  and 
given  the  ceremonial  cigarette  of  the  gods. 

As  soon  as  the  cacique  had  finished  his  sprinkling, 
Tactu  of  San  Juan  arose;  and  without  further  cere 
mony,  began  his  address  to  those  present.  "  My  broth 
ers,"  he  began,  "  you  have  heard  what  my  brothers  here 
have  told  you.  It  is  all  so;  and  more.  Yes,  my  broth 
ers,  it  is  all  so.  The  white  man's  rule  has  been  nothing 
but  oppression,  flogging,  imprisonment,  and  death  to 
our  people.  Not  only  have  they  compelled  us  to  do 
all  their  labor  for  them,  but  they  have  taken  our  young 
women  to  be  their  wives,  against  their  will.  They  have 
made  servants  and  worse  than  servants  of  our  wives. 
And  their  priests  are  the  worst  of  their  kind.  The 
priests  live  among  us,  they  work  not,  and  our  women 
are  their  servants.  Not  only  that ;  but  they  report  what  we 
do  to  their  big  chief  at  Santa  Fe  and  under  every  pretext 
our  young  men  are  taken  from  us.  They  are  compelled 
to  work  for  them  till  they  drop  dead.  Worse  still, 
these  white  intruders  forbid  us  to  worship  our  gods. 


DON  DIEGO  41 

They  call  our  priests  sorcerers.  They  kill  them.  They 
shoot  them.  They  hang  them.  They  burn  them  at  the 
stake.  They  will  not  let  us  have  our  Indian  dances. 
Consequently,  our  column  dancers  cannot  have  the 
ceremony  that  causes  the  crops  to  grow ;  and  the  '  funny 
men '  cannot  cause  the  crops  to  mature.  So  we  have 
famine  now,  instead  of  plenty  as  in  the  old  times. 
Worse  still,  we  are  forbidden  to  have  our  medicine  dances 
over  the  sick,  and  our  other  medicine  ceremonies.  Con 
sequently,  our  people  are  dying  off.  And  worst  of  all, 
we  are  not  permitted  to  perform  our  ceremonies  over 
our  dead.  Our  departed  are,  therefore,  compelled  to 
wander  throughout  all  time  in  the  land  of  fogs  and 
storms,  never  to  be  permitted  to  enter  the  happy  hunt 
ing  ground.  O  brothers,  it  is  terrible!  It  is  terrible! 
Why  have  our  people  endured  these  outrages  so  long? 
Why  do  we  endure  them?  We  will  not  endure  them 
longer." 

Hardly  had  the  venerable  cacique  finished  blessing 
Tactu,  when  the  next  speaker,  said  to  be  the  Tupatu  of 
Picuri,  arose,  threw  off  his  blanket,  and  began  impetu 
ously  : 

"  I  have  come  with  my  brothers  here  to  talk  to  you 
on  this  great  and  important, —  all-important  question  to 
us  all.  Forty  times  have  the  pinon  nuts  ripened  since 
these  hated  pale- faces  first  despoiled  our  land.  Our 
fathers'  fathers  thought  they  were  beings  from  the 
abode  of  the  good  dead;  but  they  have  always  acted 
as  if  they  were  demons  from  the  land  of  fogs  and  storms. 
They  have  almost  made  our  land  desolate  like  our  medi 
cine  men  say  that  land  is.  Their  rule  has  been  unbear 
able  from  the  first.  They  have  enslaved  us.  They  have 


42  DON  DIEGO 

taken  our  women  from  us.  They  have  forbidden  us  to 
worship  our  gods.  By  preventing  the  ceremonies  over 
our  dead,  they  have  caused  our  departed  to  be  wander 
ers  in  the  land  beyond  for  all  time.  The  dead  have  no 
sun-god  drawing  to  aid  them  on  their  long  journey. 
They  have  no  thunder-darts  to  protect  them  on  that 
dreary  road.  There  is  no  road-runner  to  lead  them 
along  that  rough,  dark  road  to  the  land  of  bliss.  Con 
sequently,  being  unable  to  reach  that  land  of  continual 
dancing  and  feasting,  they  are  compelled  to  spend  all 
their  days  and  all  their  nights  where  storm  clouds  are 
continually  overheard,  the  bolt  lightning  is  the  trees  of 
the  land,  and  the  thunder  is  the  only  music  they  have. 

"  Time  and  again  have  our  people  tried  to  rid  the 
country  of  this  hated  race.  Your  fathers,  my  Jemez 
brothers,  were  in  arms  [about  1644]  and  killed  many  of 
the  pale-faces  living  in  the  vicinity  of  your  village.  One 
of  the  Spaniards  killed  was  Naranjo.  But  your  fathers 
being  unaided  by  other  tribes,  the  Spaniards  came  in 
force  and  defeated  them,  captured  many  prisoners, 
hanged  twenty-nine  of  the  chief  men,  and  many  more 
were  sold  because  they  were  idolaters,  because  they 
wished  to  worship  their  own  gods  and  worship  them  in 
their  own  way. 

"A  few  years  afterwards  [1650]  the  chief  men  of 
Zia  tried  to  overthrow  the  Catholic  worship  and  reestab 
lish  their  own  faith.  But  they  were  overcome  and  fifty 
of  their  number  hanged. 

"The  same  year  [1650]  all  the  Tehuas,  aided  by  the 
Apaches,  planned  a  revolt  on  Thursday  night  of  Pas 
sion  week  when  the  friars  and  soldiers  would  all  be  at 
church ;  but  a  Spanish  Captain  by  the  name  of  Vaca  dis- 


DON  DIEGO  43 

covered  the  plot;  nine  of  the  leading  intriguers  were 
hanged  and  many  more  were  sold  for  a  period  of  ten 
years. 

"  The  Piros  revolted  against  the  hated,  red-eyed  race 
and  church  and  priesthood  [1660].  But  attempting  the 
undertaking  single-handed,  they  met  with  the  same  fate 
as  their  neighbors  had  before  them,  and  many  of  their 
number  were  put  to  death  for  the  alleged  crime  of  sor 
cery. 

"  After  all  these  uprisings  had  failed,  it  became  evi 
dent  to  us  that  no  one  tribe  was  able  to  throw  off  the 
Spanish  yoke  and  drive  the  intruders  from  our  villages 
and  our  homes.  The  people  of  the  red-earth  tribes  be 
gan  to  talk  about  uniting  all  the  people  of  our  blood  to 
expel  the  ever-cruel  white-earth  man  from  their  once 
pleasant  land,  but  now  land  of  sorrow  and  sorrows. 
Finally  [1662],  the  Taos  people  drew  upon  two  deer 
skins  a  plan  for  this  general  movement.  The  Moquis, 
however,  refused  to  aid  their  brothers,  and  the  plan 
was  abandoned  and  our  people  were  compelled  to  en 
dure  the  torture  on,  as  before. 

"  Later,  another  plan  was  resorted  to.  Knowing  the 
white  man's  greed  for  gold  [for  it  is  all  gold,  gold  with 
him,  anything  and  everything  to  get  gold,  the  means 
are  all  right  if  the  end  brings  gold],  our  people  began 
to  plan,  as  in  the  days  of  Coronado,  how  they  might  be 
able  to  lead  them  all  from  the  country  to  a  far-off  re 
gion  in  search  of  that  yellow  metal,  so  precious  to  them, 
in  hope  that  they  would  die  on  the  way  or  be  annihilated 
by  some  of  the  more  savage  tribes.  The  guide  was  to 
see  that  the  pale- faces  never  returned,  even  if  it  cost 
him  his  life  to  bring  about  their  destruction.  My  Jemez 


44  DON  DIEGO 

brothers,  one  of  your  own  tribe  volunteered  to  attempt 
this  hazardous  undertaking.  He  went  to  the  Spanish 
governor  [about  1664]  and  told  him  that  he  had  once 
been  a  slave  in  the  great  kingdom  of  Tiguey,  also  Qui- 
vira  and  Tejas,  and  the  Cerro  Azul,  rich  in  gold  and 
silver  ores :  and  that  they  surpassed  any  country  in  rich 
ness  yet  seen  by  the  pale-faces.  So  abundant  was  the 
gold  that  the  people  had  their  dwelling  houses  and  the 
houses  dedicated  to  the  sun  veneered  with  it  both  within 
and  without,  instead  of  being  whitewashed  with  gypsum 
as  the  pueblo  houses  of  this  country  are.  The  Spanish 
governor  believed  our  brother  and  planned  to  go.  Jubi 
lant  were  we.  In  secret  did  we  dance  to  the  sun-father 
and  the  moon-mother  and  to  Pest-ya-sode,  their  son. 
The  women  gave  gifts  to  one  another;  and  the  men 
sprinkled  the  sacred  meal  seven  times  oftener  to  the 
four  gods  that  hold  up  the  four  corners  of  the  earth  and 
cause  the  four  winds  to  blow,  and  to  the  god  of  the 
straight-up-above  and  the  straight-down-below.  But 
the  Spanish  governor  did  not  go.  But  the  hated  race 
staid  and  is  still  with  us.  Outrage  upon  outrage !  " 

Thus  saying,  he  extended  his  hands  outward  toward 
the  abode  of  the  gods  of  war  and  sent  a  hissing  breath 
toward  their  place  of  habitation.  He  then  seated  him 
self  and  received  the  blessings  of  the  gods  at  the  hands 
of  the  war-captain  and  the  cacique. 

Jaca  of  Taos  then  arose.  "  Brothers,"  he  emphatic 
ally  cried  before  he  had  hardly  gained  an  upright  posi 
tion.  "  Brothers,"  he  repeated,  "  what  you  have  heard 
here  is  all  true  and  there  is  more.  Outrage  and  outrage 
and  continual  outrage.  At  the  pueblo  of  San  Juan  an 
Indian  was  hanged  some  ten  years  ago  because  the  priest 


DON  DIEGO  45 

said  he  had  caught  him  conversing  with  the  devil  in  a 
pitcher  of  water.  Only  five  years  ago  [1675],  four 
Pueblos  were  hanged,  forty-three  whipped,  and  many 
more  imprisoned  for  having  hypnotized  [bewitched]  a 
Catholic  priest,  another  place  that  same  year,  many  of 
our  people  were  killed  for  having  killed  some  mission 
aries,  when  an  investigation  would  have  shown  that  they 
were  killed  by  Apaches  and  not  by  our  people.  No 
chance  for  defense  was  given.  The  Pueblo  suspects 
were  rounded  up  like  a  lot  of  swine  for  the  slaughter 
and  were  either  executed  on  the  spot  or  sent  to  the 
mines. 

"  Not  only  have  these  Spaniards  cruelly  treated  us, 
but  by  their  treatment  and  misgovernment,  they  have 
so  weakened  our  people  that  we  are  less  able  to  defend 
ourselves  against  the  savage  Apaches  and  Apache-Nava- 
jos  as  in  the  old  times.  Worse  and  still  worse.  These 
pale-faces,  when  they  believe  that  there  is  a  possibility 
of  an  uprising  of  any  one  of  our  tribes  in  force  against 
their  authority,  they  intrigue  with  the  Apaches  and 
Navajos  and  get  them  to  make  war  on  that  respective 
tribe.  Thus  are  their  battles  fought  for  them  and  we 
are  the  victims  of  the  butchery.  Through  the  Spanish 
intrigues,  the  Apaches  fell  upon  Zuni  and  six  neighbor 
ing  towns  further  east  [1672]  and  totally  destroyed 
them,  murdering  the  men,  women  and  children.*  Again 
they  destroyed  several  of  our  Indian  villages  three  years 
ago.  And  so  on.  And  what  are  the  pale- faces  plan 
ning  to  do  now?  Brothers,  what  are  they  planning  to 
do  now?  It  is  time  that  these  intruders  should  be 
driven  from  our  land.  Our  very  existence  depends  upon 

*  A  very  good  specimen  of  an  Indian  exaggeration. 


46  DON  DIEGO 

it.  To  let  them  stay  is  death  to  us  in  this  world  and 
everlasting  misery  for  us  in  the  world  to  come.  We 
must  unite.  We  must  act  together.  We  must  act  to 
gether.  These  white-earth  people  must  be  driven  out  of 
our  land.  The  gods  of  our  fathers  bid  us  act.  They 
must  be  expelled  from  our  land  or  meet  death  in  it. 
It  is  death  to  them  or  to  us.  The  death  is  to  them. 
Yes,  the  death  is  to  them.  We  have  visited  all  the  other 
pueblo  tribes.  Your  tribe,  my  Jemez  brothers,  is  the 
last  tribe.  All  the  other  tribes  have  agreed  to  join  in 
freeing  our  land,  in  ridding  the  country  of  these  usurp 
ers.  We  ask  your  aid.  We  need  your  aid.  We  must 
have  your  help.  You  must  join  with  us.  We  must  all 
act  together.  This  move  must  be  a  success.  No  tribe 
is  to  hold  back.  All  must  fight  the  common  foe.  It  is 
a  right  and  just  cause.  We  must  all  fight.  We  must 
fight  till  the  last  pale-face  has  departed  the  region  or 
joined  his  God  and  his  beloved  Mary.  You  must  lend 
your  aid  to  this  movement.  Your  warriors  must  help 
us  fight  these  people.  Your  vote  alone  will  decide  the 
fate  of  our  race.  Vote,  my  brothers,  for  the  war  which 
will  come  in  time  whether  we  wish  it  to  come  or  not. 
Vote  that  we  wage  it  now,  while  we  have  a  chance  to 
prepare  for  it.  Vote  for  the  freedom  of  your  women. 
Vote  for  the  freedom  of  your  young  men.  Vote  for 
the  freedom  of  our  land.  Vote  that  we  may  worship 
our  gods  as  we  wish.  Vote  that  the  dead  may  have  a 
safe  journey  to  the  abode  of  the  good  dead.  My  Jemez 
brothers,  your  vote  enslaves  us  or  frees  us.  In  the  name 
of  all  the  gods  of  my  fathers  and  of  your  fathers  I  ask 
you  to  vote  to  expel  this  hated  race  from  our  land." 
Catite  of  Santo  Domingo  immediately  followed  Jaca 


DON  DIEGO  47 

in  another  vigorous  harangue.  "  Brothers,"  he  began, 
"  now  is  the  time  for  us  to  act.  We  must  rid  the  land 
of  these  pale- faces.  They  know  our  strength.  They 
know  that  they  are  at  our  mercy.  They  know  that  they 
are  weak.  Under  pretext  to  fight  the  apostate  Apaches 
but  in  matter  of  fact  more  thoroughly  to  subdue  us  and 
crush  out  our  existence  as  a  race,  an  army  is  now  march 
ing  to  this  region.  Padre  Francisco  Ayeta  went  to 
Old  Mexico  three  summers  ago  [1677].  What  for?  An 
army!  My  brothers,  will  we  wait  till  they  come  and 
then  be  crushed  more  under  their  heel  than  now ;  or  will 
the  snake  strike  while  his  head  is  yet  free  and  his  fangs 
are  not  yet  extracted?  My  brothers,  we  will  not  wait. 
We  will  strike  the  decisive  blow.  We  will  strike  it 
now.  It  is  now  or  never.  It  must  be  done.  The 
morning  star  looks  down  upon  us.  All  the  gods  of  our 
fathers  are  looking  down  upon  us.  They  are  for  us. 
God  and  Mary  and  Jesus  Christ  are  made  of  wood.  They 
are  rotten  wood.  They  have  no  power.  They  never 
had  any.  Our  gods  are  all-powerful.  They  are  for 
us.  Here  in  the  presence  of  the  symbolic  paintings  of 
these,  your  gods  and  my  gods,  I  beg  you,  my  Jemez 
brothers,  to  lend  us  your  strength  o>f  arms  in  this  just 
cause.  I  entreat  you  to  aid  your  brothers.  The  vital 
moment  is  at  hand.  The  recruiting  army  must  never 
reach  this  land.  The  last  Spaniard  of  this  region  must 
be  in  the  dust  and  be  returning  to  dust  before  any  other 
soldiers  cross  our  river  at  the  Pass  [El  Paso,  Texas]. 
Come  with  us,  my  Jemez  brothers.  Come  with  us. 
Fight  the  foe  with  us  and  share  the  glory  with  us.  We 
bid  you  join  the  war  party.  We  beg  and  entreat  you  to 
do  so.  On  your  decision  rests  the  destiny  of  our  race. 


48  DON  DIEGO 

Make  your  decision,  my  brothers.  Make  it  now.  Make 
it  here  in  the  presence  of  these,  the  painted  symbols  of 
your  gods.  Vote  to  exterminate,  to  annihilate,  to  send 
the  last  pale- face  in  our  land  to  the  abode  of  his  dead 
and  his  Holy  Mary.  The  moon-mother,  the  sun- father, 
the  morning  star,  the  evening  star,  all  the  gods  of  your 
fathers  and  of  my  fathers  are  awaiting  your  decision." 

For  a  few  minutes  after  Catite  had  been  sprinkled  by 
the  cacique  and  had  begun  to  puff  wreaths  of  smoke 
from  the  ceremonial  cigarette  toward  the  symbolic 
drawings  of  the  estufa  and  toward  the  abode  of  those 
above,  no  one  stirred.  All  were  waiting  for  Pope  to 
address  them.  All  eyes  were  turned  toward  that  august 
person.  Slowly  he  arose,  threw  down  his  blanket,  and 
walked  around  the  entire  room,  blowing  a  gentle  breath 
on  each  of  the  wall  paintings.  Then  he  faced  those 
present  and  advancing  extended  his  hands,  and  blew  a 
gentle  breath  in  blessing  over  them  and  then  heaven 
ward  toward  the  abode  of  his  deities.  Then,  dropping 
his  hands  to  his  side,  he  paused  a  moment  before  begin 
ning  his  address. 

There  before  them  he  stood,  dressed  in  a  tunic  and 
Indian  pantaloons,  with  the  end  of  the  breech  cloth  sus 
pended  outside  of  the  trousers  both  before  and  behind. 
He  was  tall,  muscular  and  raw-boned.  His  cheek  bones 
were  rather  high,  his  lips  thick  for  a  Pueblo  Indian.  His 
under  jaw  was  large  and  his  jaws  closed  and  set  firmly 
like  a  vise.  His  nose  was  large  and  of  the  ruling  type. 
Wrinkles  curved  around  the  corners  of  his  mouth  and 
also  marked  his  forehead.  His  eyes  were  small  and 
deeply  set.  His  hair  was  done  up  in  two  cues  at  the  back 
of  his  head.  He  had  a  scanty  beard  and  mustache,  the 


DON  DIEGO  49 

latter  being  very  scanty  in  the  middle-lip  region  and 
extra  heavy  over  the  corners  of  his  mouth.  His  hands 
and  feet  were  large.  He  wore  moccasins  tinged  in  red, 
from  which  tail  feathers  of  the  eagle  were  suspended 
behind.  His  face  and  hands  were  painted  red.  His 
head  was  sprinkled  with  eagle  down.  A  feather  was 
suspended  behind  each  ear.  Turquoise  pendants  were 
suspended  from  his  ears.  A  bone,  some  three  inches  in 
length,  was  thrust  through  his  perforated  nose,  and 
strings  of  deer  hoofs,  eagle  claws  and  bright-colored, 
sparkling,  glittering  stones  were  suspended  from  his 
neck  over  his  chest.  There  he  stood,  with  determina 
tion  exhibited  in  every  outline  of  his  body  and  with  the 
fire  of  pent-up  enthusiasm  shining  out  of  his  snake-like, 
beady,  black  eyes. 

"  My  brothers,"  he  began,  as  he  gave  his  shoulders  a 
broadening  shrug  and  made  one  step  nearer  to  his  hear 
ers.  "  My  brothers,"  he  repeated,  "  I  am  Pope.  I 
have  traveled  from  village  to  village.  I  have  seen  the 
wrongs  heaped  upon  our  people  by  the  pale- faces,  who, 
under  the  disguise  of  Christianity,  have  made  us  slaves 
to  their  greed  for  gold.  I  have  seen  them  whip  the  aged 
till  they  die  under  the  lash.  I  have  seen  them  torture 
our  sunpriests  to  death,  because  they  dared  worship 
their  own  deities,  because  they  dared  be  more  civilized 
than  the  white  usurpers  of  this  land.  I  have  seen  them 
drag  our  young  men  from  their  peaceful  homes  and  put 
them  to  work  day  and  night  till  death  put  an  end  to  their 
suffering  and  misery.  I  have  seen  the  children  taken 
from  the  mother  because  she  had  dared  do  what  her 
heart  said  was  right,  she  dared  worship  her  gods,  the 
gods  of  her  fathers.  And  I  have  seen  worse  things 


50  DON  DIEGO 

than  these  — .  I  have  seen  the  aged  Indian  priest  put  to 
death,  while  in  the  very  act  of  conducting  the  ceremonies 
over  our  dead.  Brothers,  I  could  endure  these  things  no 
longer.  I  went  to  my  home  and  to  my  estufa  and  there 
I  fasted  and  prayed,  did  penance  and  mortified  my  body 
many  days. 

"  One  day  while  I  was  fasting  and  praying  and  feeling 
so  very,  very  sorry  for  the  deplorable  condition  of  my 
race,  the  great  father  of  all  the  Pueblos,  he  who  had  been 
our  father  since  before  the  flood,  appeared  and  stood 
before  me.  His  face  was  bright  red  like  the  flaming 
pillar  from  the  clouds.  His  hair  was  the  flash  or  heat 
lightning.  His  eyes  were  a  redder  red  than  his  face. 
His  body  was  in  zigzag  and  green,  like  that  of  the  good 
snake,  the  genius  of  the  water  courses.  His  feet  were 
like  the  many  tails  of  a  snake.  He  had  two  arms,  as 
we,  but  they  were  powerful  and  strong  arms.  In  his 
left  hand,  he  held  a  shield  that  covered  the  whole  sky 
and  made  the  whole  earth  dark,  completely  dark,  even 
when  the  sun  was  in  his  full  strength  at  the  noon-time. 
In  his  right  hand  he  held  a  mighty  war  club,  studded 
with  massive  flints,  pointed  and  ground  down  to  a  fine 
edge.  It  was  a  war-club  so  large  that  it  reached  even  to 
the  Seven  Stars.  I  wished  to  hide  myself.  But  where? 
His  eyes  penetrated  all  places.  He  spoke  to  me.  I 
turned  my  face  toward  him.  I  was  no  longer  afraid. 
Said  he :  'I  am  your  father  and  the  father  of  all  the 
Pueblos.  I  am  the  sun  with  the  mask  removed.  I  have 
witnessed  the  oppression  of  my  people,  till  I  can  endure 
it  no  longer.  My  son,  I  commission  you,  I  command 
you  to  go  to  your  countrymen  and  order  them  to  rebel 
against  the  hated  pale-faces,  the  cruel,  gold-seeking  Span- 


DON  DIEGO  51 

iards.  The  time  is  at  hand.  Go,  my  son.  I  will  be 
with  you  in  every  conflict  and  the  victory  in  the  end  and 
all  the  time  is  yours.  Your  people  will  obey  you.  I 
have  put  it  in  their  minds  to  do  so.  Go  now,  go  to  every 
pueblo.  I  am  your  supreme  god,  and  I  will  fight  your 
battles  for  you.  I  have  defeated  that  hated  race  al 
ready.  Rebel  against  them.  Go  now,  my  son,  go  to 
your  countrymen  at  once  and  command  them  as  I  have 
said.  Go,  my  son — '  And  lo!  the  god  of  my  fathers 
had  instantly  vanished. 

"I  looked  again  and  lo!  in  the  place  where  the  god 
of  all  the  heavens  and  the  earth  had  stood,  there  stood 
three  departed  spirits,  Cadit,  Tilim,  and  Tlesime.  These 
communed  with  me  also.  They  likewise  bade  me  to 
command  my  race  to  rise  as  one  man  and  dispel  the  des 
picable,  gold-hunting  Spaniards  from  our  land.  They 
also  directed  me  to  make  a  rope  of  palm  leaf,  a  mystic 
cord,  and  tie  it  in  knots  to  represent  the  number  of  days 
before  we  shall  rise  like  the  whirlwind  of  the  sandy 
country  and  remove  this  vile,  contemptible  race,  root 
and  branch  and  stump  from  our  country  of  habitation. 
Our  revolt,  they  said,  should  begin  in  this  growing  of 
the  leaves  that  each  pueblo  should  show  its  willingness 
to  act  by  untieing  one  of  the  knots  on  the  cord  presented 
to  it.  Thus  saying,  they  likewise  vanished  to  the  world 
of  the  good  dead,  saying  as  they  departed  that  the  pueb 
los  who  would  be  killed  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Spanish 
power  should  live  and  feast  forever  after  in  the  palace  of 
the  Morning  Star,  our  first  brother,  our  great  and  pow 
erful  brother  who  guards  the  front  entrance  to  the  palace 
of  the  sun. 

"  Brothers,  as  ordered,  I  am  here.     Your  gods  have 


52  DON  DIEGO 

sent  me  here.  My  mission  is  yours.  In  the  name  of 
the  gods  who  appeared  unto  me  in  the  estufa  at  Taos  and 
in  the  name  of  all  the  gods  of  our  fathers,  I  beg  you,  I 
command  you  to  join  in  this  uprising,  in  this  revolt 
against  the  pale- faces.  We  must  rid  the  land.  It  must 
be  done  now.  Now  is  the  time.  We  are  prepared  for 
action;  they  are  not.  A  year  from  now  our  hands  will 
be  tied;  now  they  are  free.  Your  decision  frees  us  or 
sends  us  further  into  slavery.  Your  decision  means 
everything  to  our  women.  Your  decision  means  the 
complete  annihilation  of  our  fathers'  religion,  or  its  re- 
establishment  in  all  the  meanings  of  that  word.  Your 
vote  means  that  our  dead  shall  be  doomed  to  live  for  all 
days  and  for  all  nights  in  the  sorrow  land,  or  in  the 
land  of  happy  hunting  and  continual  feasting.  Broth 
ers,  vote  to  rebel.  The  gods  of  all  your  fathers  bid 
you  rise  in  arms.  The  fiery  face  of  the  sun  bids  you. 
The  red  and  white  rays  of  the  sun  bid  you  lift  your 
war  club  against  these  people.  The  yellow-faced  moon 
and  its  light-colored  rays  bid  you  rise  in  arms.  The  red- 
faced,  black-pointed  morning  star  commands  you  to  vote 
for  the  overthrow  of  these  peoples.  The  evening  star 
and  its  yellow  points  command  you.  The  four  pillars 
of  clouds,  the  steps  on  which  the  dead  pass  in  their  jour 
ney  to  the  land  of  the  good  dead,  command  you.  The 
bolt  lightning,  the  flash  lightning  and  the  genius  of  the 
water  courses  have  given  their  strength  to  this  cause. 
The  two  rainbows  await  your  decision.  The  people  in 
the  land  of  the  dead  are  rising  to  help  you.  All  the 
gods  of  our  fathers  command  you  to  rebel.  I,  the  rep 
resentative  of  those  above,  ask  you  to  make  your  de 
cision  this  night,  to  make  it  now.  Here  is  the  mystic 


VII. 


A  WALL  PAINTING  IN  A  SECRET  DARK  ROOM  IN  ONE  OF  THE  INDIAN 
HOUSES  AT  JEMEZ,  N.  M. 

Sun.     (In  left-hand  upper  corner.) 

Moon.     (In  right-hand  upper  corner.) 

Morning    Star. 

Evening  Star. 

Rainbow  in  the  West. 

The  Red  Snake. 

The  Blue  Snake,  the  God  of  Rain. 

The  Flash  Lightning,  the  God  of  Flowers.  It  is  projecting  from  the 
water  receptacles  of  the  universe.  The  step-like  figures  below  the  water- 
jars  are  clouds  from  which  raindrops,  represented  by  black  points,  are 
dropping. 


VI.    A  RAINBOW  SECTION  IN  ONE  OF  THE  ESTUFAS  AT  JEMEZ,  N.  M. 

1.  Clouds. 

2.  The   Bolt   Lightning   that   does  not   strike   the  ground. 

3.  The  Bolt  Lightning  that  strikes  the  earth.    It  is  the  Red  Snake  or  In 
dian  Devil. 

4.  The    Flash    Lightning,    believed    by    the   Indians   to   be    the   producer 
of  bloom,  hence  the  God  of  Flowers. 

5.  The  Blue  Snake,  the  God  of  Rain. 

6.  The  Rainbow  in  the  East,     (a)   Water  receptacles  of  the  universe;  (b) 
Clouds,  the  Steps  to  Heaven;   (c)  raindrops;   (d)  the  rainbow  arch;   (e)  dart- 
heads  thrust  out  by  the  rainbow  as  a  means  of  protection. 

NOTE. — This  is  the  rainbow  in  the  east.  Beneath  the  arch  the  repre 
sentatives  of  good  and  evil,  the  rain  snake  and  the  red  snake,  are  in  com 
bat.  The  rain  snake,  being  defeated,  is  retreating  eastward  and  is  taking  the 
clouds  with  him,  hence  the  rain  is  over.* 

•The  Rainbow  Section  just  opposite  this  section  represents  the  rainbow 
in  the  west.  It  differs  from  the  rainbow  section  given  here  in  that  it  has  the 
God  of  Flowers  projecting  from  the  water  jars  beneath  the  arch. 


DON  DIEGO  53 

cord.  Untie  one  of  its  knots  that  we  may  know  that 
you  are  willing  to  fight  for  your  country,  for  your  homes, 
for  your  wives  and  daughters,  for  our  fathers'  worship, 
for  the  safe  passage  of  our  departed  to  the  good  world. 
Untie  the  knot,  my  brother  and  war-captain,  that  we  may 
know  that  you  are  on  our  side  and  on  the  side  of  the 
deities  of  our  fathers.  All  the  gods  of  our  fathers  bid 
you  act.  We  await  your  decision.  It  must  be  to  rise 
in  arms  against  these  pale- faces.  It  must  be  to  drive 
out  this  hated,  greedy,  merciless,  gold-seeking  race.  My 
brothers  —  we  await  your  decision." 

Pope  at  once  seated  himself  and  was  sprinkled  and 
blessed  by  the  cacique  and  given  the  ceremonial  ciga 
rette;  but  he  did  not  smoke  it.  He  waited  for  the  de 
cision  ;  but  none  was  given.  Not  that  the  Jemez  did  not 
wish  to  rise  in  arms  against  the  Spanish  misrule,  but 
was  it  wise  to  do  so?  Things  as  they  were,  were  bad 
enough :  what  might  the  result  of  the  proposed  uprising 
be  in  the  end?  Many  things  were  to  be  considered. 
What  if  the  Spaniards  should  be  able  to  crush  the  re 
bellion?  Not  a  Jemez  stirred.  Not  a  word  was  ut 
tered  by  one  of  them.  Not  a  hand  was  moved.  Min 
utes  and  minutes  passed.  Was  the  cause  lost?  United 
action  alone  could  defeat  the  Spaniards;  here  was  one 
of  the  leading  pueblos  that  was  undecided.  Cold  sweat 
collected  in  great  drops  over  Pope's  face.  Had  he  lost 
the  cause  for  which  he  had  labored  so  faithfully  and 
which  he  honestly  believed  was  a  just  cause?  The  gods 
forbid.  He  had.  been  commissioned  by  them  and  to 
win  was  the  only  possible  outcome.  But  just  what 
further  to  do  or  to  say  at  the  moment  he  did  not  know. 

At  this  juncture  when  it  seemed  very  evident  if  the 


54  DON  DIEGO 

Jemez  voted  at  all  it  would  be  a  negative  vote,  Ojeda 
again  arose.  "  Brothers,"  he  at  once  emphatically  and 
earnestly  began,  "  brothers,"  he  repeated,  "  will  you  be 
the  enemies  of  your  own  race  and  the  enemies  of  your 
own  gods?  The  gods  of  my  fathers  forbid.  You  must 
act  with  us.  You  must  be  our  friends.  The  gods,  all 
the  gods  of  our  fathers  command  you  to  join  with  your 
sister  tribes.  Will  you  not  do  it?  We  have  always 
been  your  friends.  Will  you  now  be  our  enemies? 
Will  you  make  servants  of  your  women?  Will  you  con 
demn  our  priests  to  be  tortured  to  death  ?  Will  you  send 
your  dead  to  the  sorrow  land?  The  gods  forbid.  All 
the  gods  of  our  fathers  bid  you  rebel  against  this  hated, 
cruel  race.  The  sun- father,  the  moon-mother,  the  even 
ing  and  the  morning  stars,  the  bolt  and  flash  lightnings, 
the  red  snake,  and  the  blue  snake  bid  you  rise  in  arms. 
The  two  rainbows  bid  you.  The  elder  war  hero  of  our 
race  bids  you.  The  cougar  deity,  the  bear,  the  badger, 
the  eagle,  the  shrew,  the  spider  bid  you.  The  younger 
war  hero  and  our  great  and  knowing  brother,  Pusha- 
ian-kia,  command  you.  The  goddess  of  the  north,  of 
the  south,  of  the  east,  of  the  west,  of  the  straight-up- 
above,  and  of  the  straight-down-below  are  looking  upon 
you.  The  medicine  water  bowl,  the  cloud  bowl,  the  cere 
monial  water  vase,  the  ancient  road  await  your  decision. 
The  white-shell-bead  woman  who  lives  where  the  sun 
descends  bids  you.  The  mighty  whirling  winds  com 
mand  you.  The  wooden  images  on  your  own  hearth 
stone  order  you  to  aid  us.  The  yellow  woman  of  the 
north,  the  blue  woman  of  the  west,  the  red  woman  of 
the  south,  the  white  woman  of  the  east  are  looking  down 
through  these  walls  upon  you  this  moment.  The  yel- 


I.     SUN-GOD  SECTION  IN  ONE  OF  THE  ESTUFAS  AT  JEMEZ,  N.  M. 

1.  Clouds,  the  Steps  to  Heaven.     (Dark  marginal  figures.) 

2.  The  Bolt  Lightning  that  does  not  strike  the  earth.     (Upper  figures.) 

3.  The  Bolt  Lightning  that  strikes   the  earth.     It  is  the  Red   Snake  or 
Indian  Devil,  called   Savah  by  them.     (Second   fieure  from  the  top  on  each 
side.) 

4.  The  Flash  Lightning,  the  God  of  Flowers.     (Third  figure  from  top.) 

5.  The  Good  Snake,  the  Blue  Snake,  the  God  of  Rain.     (Lower  figures.) 

6.  The  Sun,   the  father  of  the  universe  and  the  God  of  all  things.     By 
the  Indians  he  is  called  Patahgatzah  or  Pay. 


II.    THE  MOON-GOD  SECTION  IN  ONE  OF  THE  ESTUFAS  AT  JEMEZ,  NM. 

1.  Clouds. 

2.  Bolt  Lightning  that  do«s  not  strike  the  earth. 

3.  The  Red  Snake  or  Indian  DeviL 

4.  The  Flash  Lightning,  the  God  of  Flowers. 

5.  The  Blue  Snake,  the  God  of  Rain. 

6.  The   Moon,    the   Mother  God  of   the   Universe,   called   by  the  Indus 
AhtuhwahUah.  or  Pah. 


DON  DIEGO  55 

low-bluish  woman  of  the  zenith  and  the  dark  woman  of 
the  nadir  command  you  to  aid  your  brothers  in  driving 
the  race  from  our  land.  Pusha-ian-kia  and  all  the  gods 
of  our  fathers  command  you  to  aid  us.  Will  you  be 
the  enemies  of  all  your  brothers?  Will  you  be  the  ene 
mies  of  even  your  gods?  We  await  your  decision.  We 
beg  you  in  the  name  of  all  the  gods  of  our  fathers  and 
in  the  name  of  those  above  to  make  your  decision  now. 
We  must  have  your  decision.  The  great  snake  that  en 
circles  the  starry  vault  [the  Milky  Way]  commands  you 
to  act.  The  departed  of  our  race  urge  you.  The  gods 
of  all  our  fathers  command  you.  Will  you  be  the  ene 
mies  of  our  race?  Will  you  be  more  despised  than  the 
hated  pale- faces?  Will  you  have  the  blood  of  all  the 
other  tribes  upon  your  heads  ?  " 

Without  waiting  for  the  close  of  the  speech,  Don 
Diego,  the  Jemez  war-captain,  arose  slowly,  took  his 
tomahawk  from  his  belt  and  without  saying  a  word  to 
anyone,  walked  with  a  brisk  step  to  the  center  of  the 
room  and  hurled  that  Indian  weapon,  sticking  it  into  the 
centerpost  of  that  house.  Then  he  returned  and  seated 
himself.  Slowly  and  deliberately  the  rest  of  the  Jemez 
present  then  arose  one  by  one  and  likewise  drove  their 
tomahawks  into  the  same  centerpost.  Then  when  all 
•iad  reseated  themselves.  Don  Diego  took  the  mystic 
:ord  and  untied  one  of  its  knots.  Thus  was  the  declara 
tion  of  war  ratified  by  the  last  tribe. 


CHAPTER  III 

DIOSj  see  that  bunch  of  peons  that  came 
in  this  morning.  They  are  prisoners.  I  sup 
pose  they  are  prisoners  from  the  Great  River  of  the 
North.  Do  you  happen  to  know  any  of  their  history?  " 
"  Yes,  they  are  Pueblo  Indians.  Those  four  over 
there  are  from  San  Ildefonso,  wherever  that  place  may 
be.  They  sprinkled  corn  pollen  over  an  altar  made  to 
their  gods  of  petrified  wood.  Our  good  father  at  the 
pueblo  saw  them  at  their  heathenish  worship,  and  they 
are  here.  Those  twenty  over  there  are  from  Santa  Fe. 
They  refused  to  give  up  their  own  houses  and  all  their 
property  to  the  conquerers.  But  what  matters  it,  any 
way.  In  a  few  years  they  will  all  be  dead  and  their 
masters  will  be  rich.  Those  Indians  over  there  by  that 
rock  are  from  Zia  and  Santa  Anna  pueblos.  They  did 
not  go  to  mass  one  Sunday.  Oh,  well,  it  matters  not, 
just  so  we  get  them  as  slaves.  Those  alcaldes  are  paid 
so  much  per  head  for  all  the  Indians  they  can  send  to 
labor  in  the  mines.  It's  all  for  the  glory  of  the  Father 
and  Santa  Marie  [and  our  purses,  you  know].  This 
is  an  Indian  from  Jemez";  so  are  these  over  here.  They 
are  fine  looking  fellows.  This  Indian  would  not  allow 
his  daughter  to  be  a  servant  in  the  priest's  house.  Oh, 
well,  we  need  them  and  we  get  them.  That's  all.  The 
Indians  were  made  to  be  slaves  of  the  white  race.  The 
more  of  them  we  kill  off  the  better  it  is  for  us,  if  they 

56 


DON  DIEGO  57 

bring  us  the  gold.  Per  Dios,  there  seems  to  be  trouble 
yonder." 

It  was  in  the  mining  region  of  Nueva  Vizcaya  where 
the  above  conversation  occurred.  It  was  early  in  the 
morning.  The  smoke-wreathed  burning-red  orb'  of  day 
was  rising  above  the  jagged  mountain  points  of  the 
mother  saw-tooth  ranges  to  the  eastward.  Slowly  its 
rays  descended  into  the  inner  canon-like  valleys,  which, 
for  the  most  part,  presented  a  desert-like  appearance. 
Here  and  there  on  the  walls  and  steep  slopes  were  many 
varieties  of  the  cactus  family,  vieing  with  each  other  in 
the  length  of  their  spines.  Now  and  then  a  pifion  or  red 
cedar  dotted  the  landscape.  A  narrow  band  of  chap 
arral  and  "  polly-verde,"  and  an  attempt  at  a  growth  of 
grass  lined  the  central  low  area. 

Here  in  these  valleys  were  situated  many  of  the  mines 
which  were  enriching  the  Spanish  people  and  their  sov 
ereigns  in  Spain.  They  were  not  conducted  in  the  same 
manner  as  mines  are  to-day.  Only  free  milling  gold 
could  be  handled.  There  was  no  machinery  of  any 
sort.  Everything  was  hoisted  with  a  hand  windlass. 
The  men  went  down  into  the  mines  on  rope  ladders,  or 
on  poles.  When  the  mines  got  very  deep  the  slaves,  for 
slaves  [convicts,  as  the  Spaniards  called  them]  did  the 
work,  were  kept  in  the  underground  recesses  till  they 
died.  Then  their  bodies  were  either  thrown  into  some 
abandoned  tunnel  or  shaft;  or  hoisted  up  to  the  sur 
face  and  cast  into  some  out-of-the-way  place,  for  the 
birds  and  beasts  of  the  Sierras  to  feed  upon.  They 
fared  as  well  dead  as  alive.  In  the  dingy  mine  they, 
never  saw  the  light  of  day.  Their  bed  was  possibly  a 
sheep  skin  on  the  hard  rock  floor;  and  more  often  not 


58  DON  DIEGO 

even  that.  Their  clothes  consisted  of  a  breech  cloth,  if 
even  that  much.  Their  food  was  a  morsel  of  corncake. 
The  water  they  had  was  scanty  and  impure.  The  air 
they  had  was  foul.  And  work  they  were  compelled  to, 
not  eight  hours  a  day,  but  the  greater  part  of  each 
twenty- four.  If  the  desired  amount  of  the  precious  met 
als  was  not  forthcoming  each  day,  a  beating  with  worse 
than  the  cat-o'-nine-tails  was  the  inevitable  result. 
Death  was  preferable  to  this  treatment;  but  death  is 
not  usually  preferred  by  the  races  of  men. 

It  was  at  one  of  the  mines  of  this  region  that  the 
scene  about  to  be  described  occurred.  A  man  was 
climbing  out  of  the  mine.  He  was  an  Indian,  a  convict, 
if  that  word  may  be  used  to  cover  Spanish  sins.  His 
face  was  shriveled  and  wrinkled.  He  was  short  one 
ear.  A  finger  was  off  of  his  left  hand,  a  toe  off  of  his 
right  foot.  His  hair  was  white  and  very  long.  His 
teeth  were  partly  gone,  the  rest  as  white  as  ivory.  He 
was  bent  with  age;  but  was  still  muscular  and  strong. 
His  eyes  were  small  and  hazel  in  color.  But  were  fiery 
at  the  moment. 

As  he  climbed  out  of  the  mine,  two  guards  rushed  to 
seize  him.  But  old  and  decrepit  as  he  looked,  the  aged 
slave  gained  a  footing  at  the  entrance  of  the  mine  and, 
seizing  a  pick,  prepared  to  defend  himself. 

"  Oh,  you  dog,"  shouted  one  of  the  guards,  "  you'll 
fight,  will  you  ?  You're  not  worth  much,  anyway.  You 
wouldn't  even  make  good  crow  feed.  Go  back  down 
that  ladder.  Go,  I  say.  You  haven't  seen  the  light  of 
day  for  twenty  years  and  you'll  never  see  it  again.  It 
won't  be  good  for  you  to  stay  here.  Your  Jemez  friends 
yonder  will  carry  your  carcass  to  that  precipice  in  the 


DON  DIEGO  59 

distance  for  the  wolves  and  vultures  to  devour.  Go 
back  down  in  that  mine  or  I  will  shoot  you  in  your 
tracks.  Go!  Go,  or  I  light  the  powder  in  the  pan  of 
this  gun.  Get  down  there  at  once." 

But  the  aged  man  climbed  not  down  the  pole  in  the 
mine  shaft,  but  made  several  quick  steps  from  its  en 
trance  toward  the  advancing  guard,  brandishing  his  pick. 
"  Kill  me,"  he  shouted.  "  I  might  as  well  die  here  as  in 
the  mine.  Aye,  I  have  not  seen  the  sun  for  more  than 
twenty  years."  Nearing  them  he  again  exclaimed: 
"  Kill  me  if  you  wish.  Blessed  god  of  my  race.  I  am  an 
old  man  now  and  will  work  no  longer  in  your  mines,  O 
gold-seeking  pale- faces.  Yonder  god  of  light  and  his 
son,  and  the  moon-mother  are  my  principal  gods.  To 
them  I  command  my  being  and  they  will  take  it  safely  to 
she-pa-pa  [the  Indian  heaven],  where  you  pale-faces  can 
not  enter;  where  only  the  good  people  go,  and  you  are 
not  good. 

"  Five  times,  and  more,  have  I  served  out  my  sen 
tence  in  this  mine.  By  your  own  words  I  have  served 
it  out  five  times.  My  fine  was  four  years  only.  I 
counted  the  time  when  I  would  be  back  with  my  family, 
my  wife  and  my  little  son,  Don  Diego,  at  Jemez ;  for, 
as  you  intimate,  I  am  a  Jemez.  I  counted  the  days  by 
tying  knots  on  a  string.  I  also  kept  the  number  of 
times  the  green  corn  [roasting  ears]  were  in  the  fields 
by  their  bringing  me  green  corn  for  my  food.  Four 
years  came  and  went  and  four  more.  Yet  you  kept  not 
your  word :  you  kept  not  the  order  of  the  court.  I  saw 
the  alcalde  write  my  sentence  in  the  record  book  and 
also  give  a  copy  of  it  to  the  bailiff.  No!  you  have  not 
respected  the  orders  of  your  own  courts.  You  respect 


60  DON  DIEGO 

nothing  but  gold.  Eight  years  and  eight  years  more 
have  passed ;  yet  you  have  not  freed  me.  Now  I  am  out 
of  that  mine,  not  by  your  will  but  by  my  own  strength 
and  the  power  of  my  gods.  The  guard  at  the  bottom 
of  the  mine  has  gone  to  the  pearly  gates  and  his  be 
loved  Mary ;  and  I  will  go  to  my  deities. 

"  I  never  did  any  wrong  to  cause  me  to  be  arrested 
and  sent  to  this  place.  Of  course,  you  do  not  believe 
what  I  say.  You  don't  want  to.  But  I  never  did.  I 
call  on  all  the  gods  of  my  fathers  to  witness  that  I  did 
no  wrong.  Your  chief  man  visited  our  village.  We 
were  all  friendly  to  him.  Our  young  men  went  out  to 
meet  the  visitors.  They  escorted  them  to  the  village.  A 
procession  lined  up  on  each  side  of  the  main  entrance 
to  receive  them.  Pinon  twigs  and  branches  were  laid 
in  their  path  for  them  to  walk  upon,  and  our  women 
took  off  their  bright  colored  panas  [the  aprons  they 
wear  suspended  from  their  shoulders  at  the  back]  and 
placed  them  on  the  ground  for  the  high  men  to  walk 
upon.  They  did  not  touch  the  ground  with  their  feet 
from  the  time  they  dismounted  till  they  entered  the 
church  of  San  Jose  in  our  village  to  attend  mass.  The 
whole  village  attended  mass  that  day.  There  was  gen 
eral  good  feeling  everywhere. 

"  After  the  services  were  over  in  the  church,  the 
strangers  were  given  the  best  quarters  in  the  pueblo. 
I  gave  quarters  to  two  of  them  in  my  house,  and  the  best 
things  to  eat  that  we  had.  Everything  possible  was 
done  to  make  the  visiting  people  welcome.  The  Catholic 
father,  who  accompanied  them,  was  also  asked  to  visit 
each  house  and  bless  it  and  its  occupants  and  to  baptize 
the  children  into  your  church.  He  visited  my  own  house 


DON  DIEGO  61 

and  baptized  my  little  son,  naming  him  Don  Diego.  I 
was  a  happy  man  that  day,  but,  oh,  the  biting  sting! 

"  After  the  midday  meal  was  served,  four  of  our  men 
entertained  the  guests  in  the  giving  of  a  vigorous,  knee- 
springing,  foot-scraping,  turkey-gobbling  dance;  while 
a  clown,  dressed  like  a  Spanish  lord  accompanied  by  an 
imitation  Navajo  chief,  made  grimaces  and  did  funny 
things  to  amuse  the  populace. 

"  After  this  dance  was  completed,  a  procession  was 
formed  at  the  church.  The  sacred  image  was  then 
carried  at  the  head  of  the  procession  to  the  plaza  and 
there  placed  in  a  booth.  In  front  of  this  then  the 
'  column  dancers '  danced  till  darkness  began  to  take 
possession  of  the  land;  while  those  who  were  not  en 
gaged  in  the  dance  went  into  the  booth  and  said  their 
prayers  and  '  counted  their  beads '  in  the  presence  of  the 
image.  Also,  all  who  could  went  to  confession  to  the 
priest  in  a  near-by  house.  As  night  came  on,  we  all 
lined  up  in  two  columns,  facing  each  other.  Then  our 
principal  men  prayed  to  God  for  us  and  asked  him  to 
bless  the  pale-faces  and  help  us  obey  them  and  make  us 
always  to  be  friends.  When  the  prayers  were  finished, 
we  all  started  home  happy.  I  had  never  felt  so  happy 
before  in  my  life. 

"  When  near  ing  my  house,  my  wife  ran  out  to  meet 
me.  She  was  crying  as  though  her  heart  would  break. 
She  cried  and  cried  and  cried.  I  took  her  in  my  arms 
and  carried  her  to  my  house.  I  asked  her  what  the 
matter  was ;  and  she  still  cried  and  sobbed  and  could  not 
tell  me  anything.  Finally  she  became  quiet  so  she  could 
talk.  Then  she  said  she  had  been  mistreated  by  the  two 
Spaniards  whom  I  had  been  so  good  as  to  give  shelter 


62  DON  DIEGO 

in  my  house.  At  once  I  was  enraged,  as  any  husband 
should  have  been.  I  started  to  report  the  affair  to  the 
chief  Spanish  officer;  but  before  I  could  hardly  leave  my 
door,  I  was  arrested  by  one  of  the  Spanish  governor's 
officials.  Those  Spaniards,  to  cover  their  own  shame 
ful  act,  had  brought  charges  against  me,  that  I  had  stolen 
a  spur  belonging  to  one  of  them  and  that  my  wife  had 
aided  me  in  concealing  it. 

"  The  next  day  I  was  taken  before  the  alcalde  and 
sentenced  to  four  years  in  the  mines.  I  protested  my 
innocence  but  was  given  no  chance  to  make  my  defense. 
I  was  not  allowed  to  open  my  mouth.  I  could  easily 
have  proven  the  charge  false,  as  I  had  danced  in  the  col 
umn  dance  throughout  the  afternoon  and  had  not  been 
home.  So,  of  course,  I  could  not  have  stolen  the  spur.  I 
tried  to  explain  but  it  was  no  use.  I  tried  to  tell  of  the 
wrong  my  accusers  had  done;  but,  instead  of  being  given 
a  fair  trial,  I  was  gagged  and  taken  from  the  region.  I 
never  saw  my  wife  again.  I  never  saw  my  child  again. 
I  have  never  heard  what  became  of  them. 

"  After  I  was  sentenced  and  gagged,  a  rope  was  tied 
around  my  neck,  like  I  was  a  dog.  The  free  end  of  the 
rope  was  then  tied  to  the  saddle  of  one  of  the  armored 
men.  He  then  started  with  me  for  the  mines,  leading 
me,  jerking  me  along  over  rocks,  brush,  bunches  of 
cactus,  anything  just  the  same,  swimming  rivers  with  me; 
and  on  we  went.  After  a  while  we  were  joined  by 
other  groups  of  convicts,  and  on  we  went.  At  nights, 
my  hands  were  tied  behind  me  and  I  was  tied  by  the 
neck  to  a  tree  or  rock  just  like  a  horse.  If  there  was 
nothing  else  to  tie  to,  I  was  tied  to  a  hobbled  horse  to 
be  pulled  around  as  the  horse  grazed.  Water  and  food 


DON  DIEGO  63 

were  scarce,  I  had  to  do  without.  Doing  without  water 
was  the  worst.  Often  the  man  and  horse  would  drink; 
but  I  was  given  not  so  much  as  would  dampen  the  point 
of  my  parched,  swollen  tongue. 

"  At  last,  we  arrived  here  at  this  mine.  Oh,  horrible 
nightmare !  I  was  put  at  the  windlass.  Big  chains  were 
put  on  my  feet  to  keep  me  from  running  away.  Day 
after  day  I  worked  with  these  chains  on  and  slept  with 
them  on.  Day  after  day  I  almost  starved.  Day  after 
day,  I  almost  famished  for  want  of  water  which  I  could 
see  running  yonder  but  which  I  could  not  get  on  account 
of  the  guards  and  the  heavy  chains  that  weighted  me 
down. 

"  At  last  I  planned  to  escape,  as  you  may  know,  but 
you  were  not  there.  I  managed  to  get  a  stone  mallet 
hid  away  in  the  little  hovel  I  was  allowed  to  live  in. 
Then  I  got  a  chisel  and  a  stone  hammer  secreted  in  the 
dirt  under  the  sheep  skin  I  used  for  a  pallet.  Then  in 
the  dead  hour  of  the  night,  one  night  when  you  were 
having  a  big  feast  to  your  Lady  of  Guadalupe  and  were 
all  enjoying  yourselves  in  a  building  which,  it  seems  to 
me,  stood  in  that  ravine  yonder,  I  carefully  cut  the  links 
of  the  chain  and  freed  my  legs.  Then  I  cut  the  clasps 
that  encircled  my  legs.  I  was  free. 

"  It  w7as  nearly  morning.  No  one  heard  my  pound 
ing.  So  I  decided  to  make  the  quickest  possible  escape 
from  this  mining  section.  I  rose  up  quickly ;  but  found 
that  my  legs  were  stiffened  by  having  worn  the  chains 
so  long.  After  a  great  deal  of  effort,  however,  I  suc 
ceeded  in  being  able  to  walk  quite  well  and  briskly. 
I  took  a  direction  through  a  region  that  I  knew  was 
traveled  over  but  little.  I  climbed  over  yonder  peak. 


64  DON  DIEGO 

I  was  on  its  top  at  sun  up.  There  I  paused  and  looked 
and  gazed  upon  the  red-fingered  morn.  I  hoped  and 
prayed  that  my  god  would  come,  as  he  has  promised  he 
would  come,  on  the  flaming  aurora  in  the  chariot  of  his 
father,  the  sun,  and  drive  out  your  hated,  cruel,  unjust 
race  from  our  land.  Soon  I  heard  bloodhounds  baying 
on  my  track.  I  then  hastened  on.  I  broke  into  a  brisk 
run  and  run  as  in  the  races  of  the  old  times,  when  I 
used  to  win  the  snake  race  year  after  year.  But  I 
was  in  a  broken  country  and  the  hounds  gained  upon 
me.  I  could  hear  them  coming  near.  There  were  two 
of  them.  Seeing  that  I  could  not  outrun  them,  I  sat 
down  and  caught  my  breath.  Then  I  climbed  up  over 
a  rather  steep  cliff  to  its  top.  Then  I  quickly  gathered 
some  rocks  and  a  few  clubs  and  prepared  to  make  a 
stand  for  my  life.  The  hounds  started  to  climb  up  the 
steep-walled  slope.  When  in  good  throwing  range,  I 
hurled  a  boulder  at  the  foremost  one;  but  the  stone  went 
wide  of  its  mark;  for  I  had  not  done  any  throwing  for 
many  years,  though  when  a  young  man  I  had  been  an 
expert  thrower.  The  hounds  gained  materially  by  my 
missing.  They  were  now  within  five  lengths  of  a  man 
from  me.  [I  can  see  their  red  tongues,  glittering  sav 
age  eyes,  and  sharp  teeth  yet.]  I  threw  another  stone. 
I  took  deliberate  aim  and  hurled  it  with  all  my  strength. 
I  missed  the  first  dog  entirely ;  but,  fortunately,  the  dogs 
being  practically  in  line,  I  struck  the  second  one  square 
between  the  eyes  and  killed  him  instantly.  The  other 
dog  was  upon  me  before  I  could  hurl  another  rock.  I 
seized  a  club  and  struck  at  him  furiously,  but,  excited, 
I  missed  my  aim  and  the  great  brute  jumped  for  my 
throat.  I  could  see  death  staring  me  in  the  face.  I 


DON  DIEGO  65 

could  feel  the  hound's  teeth  on  my  throat  At  the  same 
instant  I  seized  him  by  the  throat-collar  and  with  one 
supreme  effort  and  terrible  struggle,  I  hurled  him  from 
me  and  down  over  the  steepest  part  of  the  cliff,  a  place 
that  had  a  perpendicular  face,  nearly  losing  my  balance 
in  doing  so.  Long  afterwards  I  could  hear  the  animal 
howling  in  pain  where  he  had  fallen. 

"  From  there  I  ran  on  and  on.  At  last  I  came  to  a 
trail  that  led  in  the  direction  of  the  Seven  Stars.  Night 
had  come  on,  and,  being  tired,  hungry,  and  thirsty,  I 
gathered  some  cactus  apples  for  my  evening  meal.  Then 
I  went  in  search  of -water,  which  I  found  after  consid 
erable  searching.  Being  tired,  I  then  lay  down  under  a 
juniper  tree  to  have  a  few  moments'  sleep. 

"  How  long  I  slept,  I  do  not  know.  I  must  have  slept 
very  soundly.  For  suddenly  awakening,  I  found  myself 
being  bound  hand  and  foot  with  maguey-fiber  cords. 
I  had  been  discovered  by  scouts  who  had  been  on  the 
trail  to  watch  for  me.  Knowing  the  country,  they  had 
come  by  the  trail,  a  much  shorter  route  than  I  had  come, 
and  had  laid  in  wait  for  me  at  the  little  stream  of  water 
that  crossed  the  trail.  And  though  I  went  far  from  the 
stream  and  trail  to  find  a  sleeping  place,  they  were  not 
tired  and  were  able  to  follow  my  every  move.  I  was  at 
their  mercy ;  that  was  all. 

"  The  next  day  I  was  again  at  the  mine.  The  cruel 
guard,  to  punish  me,  tied  me  to  a  block.  Then  whipped 
me  till  he  gave  out.  The  rest  of  the  day  I,  bleeding  from 
head  to  foot,  was  let  lie  face  up  in  the  burning  heat, 
while  my  torturer  went  off  to  a  torrel  combat.  Return 
ing  at  night-time,  he  lowered  me  into  the  mine:  there 
to  labor  till  I  died  of  bad  usage  or  of  old  age.  He  was 


66  DON  DIEGO 

angry  and  wished  to  kill  me.  He  said  that  the  dogs 
I  had  killed  were  worth  more  than  I  was. 

"  For  years  and  years,  for  eight  more  long  years,  I  la 
bored  in  the  mine.  By  a  poor  grease  lamp  that  nearly 
blinded  me  and  whose  smoke  and  fumes  I  could  hardly 
endure,  I  drove  the  chisel  into  the  rocky  wall,  hurled  the 
pick,  and  carried  the  rocks  in  a  box  to  the  mine  entrance 
to  be  hoisted,  that  you  people  might  become  rich. 

"  After  laboring  all  these  years,  more  than  twice  the 
time  of  my  sentence,  I  became  sick.  I  was  hot.  My 
skin  was  parched.  My  tongue,  throat,  and  mouth  was 
dry  and  burning.  My  step  was  not  steady.  My  head 
swung.  But  no  pity  was  shown  me.  At  this  time,  you, 
the  guard  nearest  to  me,  was  detailed  as  overseer  in  the 
mine.  You  cruel  wretch.  If  the  Father,  the  Holy 
Mary,  and  Jesus,  their  son,  whom  you  profess  to  wor 
ship,  are  indeed  the  beings  you  hold  dear,  most  dear  in 
your  hearts  and  whom  you  are  following  in  word  and 
in  actions,  I  want  none  of  them  in  mine.  Because  I 
could  not  bring  you  in  the  value  of  as  many  pesos  per 
day  as  I  had  done  when  well,  you  whipped  me,  and 
whipped  me  every  day  till  the  blood  ran  do\vn  my  body 
and  onto  the  ground.  Here  are  the  places  where  you 
mangled  my  flesh  with  your  merciless  whip.  See  them. 
Yet  you  prayed  to  your  gods,  three  of  them,  daily.  When 
I  sickened  so  that  I  could  no  longer  work  and  lay  help 
less  and  in  horrible,  agonizing  pain  of  the  terrible  fever, 
you,  you  cruel  gold-seeker,  would  come  each  day;  and, 
continuing  to  be  angry  because  I  was  not  adding  gold  to 
your  fortune,  would  kick  me  around  to  give  me  all  the 
agonizing  pain  you  could..  Finally,  I  became  uncon 
scious,  and  you  had  me  carried  to  an  abandoned  recess 


DON  DIEGO  67 

and  thrown  into  the  garbage  pile  to  die,  and  had  another 
slave  put  in  my  place. 

"  How  long  I  remained  unconscious,  I  do  not  know. 
One  day  I  felt  a  dull  sensation  as  of  something  gnawing 
on  my  face.  It  proved  to  be  some  rats.  They  had 
eaten  this  ear  off  and  were  then  eating  on  my  face  here 
where  you  see  this  big  scar.  I  waved  the  rats  away 
with  my  hand.  Then  by  my  moaning,  I  caused  the  man 
who  had  taken  my  place  at  the  mining  process  to  hear* 
me.  He  came  and  carried  me  out  of  that  horrid  place; 
gave  me  some  water,  all  the  water  he  had  been  allowed 
to  quench  his  thirst  for  the  day;  and  also  shared  his 
meager  allowance  of  corn  cake  with  me.  I  ate  it.  I 
tried  then  to  sit  up,  but  found  that  I  was  too  weak  to 
do  so.  I  could  only  raise  my  head  with  the  greatest  ef 
fort. 

"  Later  in  the  day  after  I  had  become  conscious  again, 
I  heard  my  friend  being  beaten  by  you  because  he  had  lost 
time  while  waiting  upon  me;  and  as  a  final  result  of  his 
being  good  to  me,  he  was  put  in  another  division  of  the 
mine  and  I  never  saw  him  again.  But  the  gods  were 
good.  You  were  transferred  to,  I  suppose,  your  present 
position ;  for  to  this  day  I  had  never  had  the  privilege 
of  seeing  you  again.  Had  I,  you  would  not  be  here  this 
day. 

"  Your  successor  was  not  so  cruel  a  man  at  first  as 
you;  so  I  was  given  a  little  to  eat.  I  suppose  he  looked 
forward  to  the  time  when  I  would  be  bringing  him  in 
money,  as  I  had  done  so  many  years  for  you.  I  got 
stronger  and  stronger  and  in  a  little  while  I  was  given 
a  location  to  work  in  the  mine.  Soon  I  was  as  strong  as 
before  my  sickness.  Day  after  day  and  moon  after 


68  DON  DIEGO 

moon  since  then,  have  I  labored  and  brought  gold  to  you 
and  to  your  people  to  enrich  them.  But  my  work  is 
over.  I  will  not  work  more. 

"  Last  night  I  dreamed  that  I  was  at  my  own  home 
at  Jemez,  that  it  was  to-day.  My  people  were  having 
their  special  occasion.  The  god-clowns,  the  '  funny  men,' 
and  the  column-dancers  were  all  performing.  The 
women  rushed  from  their  houses  and  threw  bread  and 
other  things  to  eat  skyward  as  a  thank  offering  to  those 
above.  I  heard  my  own  son  making  a  big  speech  to  the 
Indians.  Then  I  heard  that  big  drum  on  the  estufa,  the 
drum  I  used  to  beat  in  the  long  ago.  I  heard  that  drum 
beat.  Then  I  saw  strangers  enter  the  village.  Night 
came  on  and  I  saw  them  all  in  solemn  council  in  the  pres 
ence  of  the  symbolic  paintings  of  my  gods  in  our  prac 
tice  house.  The  business  was  secret.  I  heard  my  own 
name  called.  Instantly,  Pest-ya-sode,  my  great  brother 
and  father,  stood  before  me  and  said :  '  Go,  my  son,  go. 
Your  son,  Don  Diego,  needs  you.  Go.' 

"  At  once  I  awoke  and  am  here.  O  glorious  god  of 
day  and  god  of  my  fathers!  I  am  going,  O  cruel  Span 
iard.  I  will  work  in  your  mines  no  longer.  I  go  to  my 
people.  I  will  go  in  this  red-clay  body,  or  I  go  in  spirit ; 
but  I  go,  nevertheless.  Many  times  have  I  served  out 
my  sentence,  the  unjust  sentence." 

"  Go  back  down  that  pole,  you  dog  of  an  Indian.  Go. 
I  light  this  powder.  I  have  heard  enough  from  you. 
No  Indian  has  ever  been  given  such  a  privilege  to  talk 
here  before  and  no  other  one  ever  will  be.  You  dog, 
you'll  come  towards  me,  will  you.  Here,  hand  me  that 
firebrand.—  We'll  — " 

But  quick  almost  as  a  flash  of  lightning,  the  aged  sav- 


DON  DIEGO  69 

age  had  hurled  his  pick,  like  he  had  hurled  war  clubs 
when  a  young  man.  There  was  a  thud,  a  choking  sound, 
a  heavy  fall,  and  the  cruel  guard  had  left  his  gold  and 
gone  to  his  God.  Then  with  a  shriek  and  a  whoop  that 
reverberated  through  the  ragged  hills  and  canons,  the 
gray  haired  slave  bounded  swift  as  a  deer  for  the  wild 
country.  A  flash  from  the  other  guard's  gun  doubled 
him  up ;  and  instantly,  his  spirit  went  to  aid  his  son  and 
his  Jemez  brothers. 


CHAPTER  IV 

IT  was  San  Juan  [St.  John's]  day,  1680.  The  bells 
on  the  Spanish  church  at  Santa  Fe  proclaimed  the 
day.  The  robed  priests  proceeded  to  the  church.  The 
people  gathered.  Mass  was  said.  Then  the  populace 
arose  from  their  kneeling  positions  on  the  adobe  floor 
and  silently  left  the  church,  reverently  making  the  cross 
with  the  holy  water  as  they  left  the  thick-walled  adobe 
structure. 

Just  as  they  were  leaving  that  edifice,  there  was  a  yell 
ing  and  hallooing  in  the  rear  of  the  building;  and  soon 
some  men,  dressed  like  Indian  herders,  came  driving  a 
mock  bull,  a  cow-hide  including  horns  and  head-skin 
suspended  over  a  plank  and  carried  by  two  men  beneath 
it  in  imitation  of  a  bull  in  life.  The  mock  torrel  com 
bat  was  at  hand.  Bellowing,  the  animal  charged  upon 
the  multitude  of  curious  spectators.  It  trampled  them 
under  foot.  The  men  hustled  out  of  its  way.  The 
women  and  children,  laughing,  screaming,  some  with  de 
light,  some  with  fear,  scampered  up  the  ladders  to  the 
housetops.  The  infuriated  brute  then  charged  upon  its 
keepers.  They  pretended  to  try  to  control  it.  They 
hallooed  and  cracked  whips  and  did  many  sorts  of  things 
to  make  the  biggest  noise  possible.  But  the  shaggy  ani 
mal  charged  them,  chased  them  from  place  to  place  till 
they  finally  came  to  a  mud  hole.  It  had  rained  the  night 
before.  Here  the  keepers  made  a  final  stand;  but  were 

70 


DON  DIEGO  71 

overcome,  hooked  down  into  the  muddy  water  and  slimy 
mud  and  were  trampled  under  foot:  this  was  a  part  of 
the  play.  Then  the  released  animal  charged  down  the 
street  at  a  mad  pace,  followed  by  the  be-muddied  keep 
ers,  who  looked  more  like  some  animal  of  the  jungle 
than  human  beings.  Overtaking  the  bellowing  beast, 
they  drove  it  into  an  adobe-walled  enclosure.  There  the 
matador  was  prepared  for  the  combat.  The  people 
gathered  on  the  walls  and  housetops  to  see  the  fun.  The 
matador,  carrying  a  red  cloth,  allowed  the  "  torrel "  to 
chase  him  around  the  enclosure  several  times,  managing 
clumsily  to  fall  and  be  run  over  by  the  bull.  Then  he 
threw  off  his  cloak,  seized  a  dirk,  and  after  making  sev 
eral  false  passes  at  the  charging  beast  and  again  being 
run  down,  he  was  hooked  and  tossed  completely  over  the 
animal's  back,  as  a  horrible  bellowing  issued  from  be 
neath  the  dry  hide.  But  the  matador  had  not  been  in 
jured  and  he  was  up  and  ready  for  the  fray.  Quickly, 
then,  he  finished  the  work.  A  well  aimed  thrust  in  the 
animal's  flank  disabled  it,  and  it  fell  to  the  ground  in  a 
heap. 

At  that  instant  as  the  "  dying  bull  "  was  panting  out 
his  life,  there  was  a  squawk,  squawk  from  a  rooster  in 
a  near-by  shed.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  prepara 
tion  for  the  "  gallo  "  [rooster]  race.  The  day  was  to 
be  a  gala  day,  as  San  Juan  day  always  is  among  the 
Spaniards  and  Mexicans.  "  Squawk,  squawk,"  screamed 
another  rooster,  and  another.  It  was  San  Juan  day,  and 
every  man  whose  name  was  Juan  was  to  furnish  a  rooster. 
Squawking,  squawking,  the  fluttering  fowls  were 
taken  to  the  plaza;  and  one  by  one,  as  needed,  were 
buried  in  the  sand  all  but  the  head  and  the  sand  pressed 


72  DON  DIEGO 

tightly  around  them.  Then  the  men  and  boys,  stripped 
of  all  clothing  except  short  pantaloons,  rode  at  a  gallop  on 
saddleless  horses  past  the  imprisoned  chicken.  As  they 
did  so,  each  rider  reached  over  and  grabbed  for  its  head. 
Faster  and  faster  they  rode  around  and  around  the  plaza 
and  tried  their  luck  again.  At  last  one  of  the  number 
luckily  leaned  far  enough  over  and  succeeded  in  getting 
the  rooster  by  the  neck,  but  his  hold  slipped  and  he  was 
crowded  on  by  the  next  rider.  The  third  rider  follow 
ing  this  one  succeeded  in  pulling  the  fluttering  fowl  from 
its  imprisonment.  Then  the  race  began  in  earnest.  The 
holder  of  the  chicken,  spurring  his  horse  to  the  greatest 
possible  speed,  rode  through  the  town,  closely  pursued  by 
the  other  riders,  whom  he  beat  and  pounded  with  the 
squawking,  fluttering  chicken  when  they  approached  near 
to  him.  Over  hills  and  valleys,  over  rocks  and  gulches 
alike,  he  was  chased.  At  last  a  pursuer  got  hold  of  the 
chicken  also;  he  seized  it  by  the  leg.  Then  the  two 
rode  side  by  side  and  pulled  on  the  screaming,  struggling 
bird  for  a  considerable  distance.  Then  they  turned  their 
horses  in  opposite  directions  and,  spurring  them  forward, 
pulled  and  pulled  until  they  had  torn  the  quivering  body 
to  pieces.  Then  over  the  hill  they  chased  each  other 
and  pounded  each  other  with  the  pieces  till  the  bits  were 
too  small  to  race  for.  Then  another  rooster  was  buried 
in  the  plaza,  and  the  same  performance  was  acted  out 
over  again.  And  so  on,  till  the  roosters  in  the  city  had 
been  mutilated  in  the  sport,  and  all  the  men  were  bloodier 
than  a  butcher  in  a  slaughter  house.  But  it  was  fun 
for  them. 

The  race  being  completed,  the  midday  meal,  a  feast, 
was  served  to  all.     The  people  gathered  in  their  houses 


DON  DIEGO  73 

and  seated  themselves  around  baskets  of  "  tortea," 
"  wyava  "  [corn-cake,  paper-like  bread],  sour-dough  loaf 
bread,  dishes  of  venison,  fresh  pork,  and  beef,  and  bowls 
of  wine.  And  a  feast  it  was  for  the  people  of  that  race 
and  time.  Of  course,  the  governor  and  priests  had  bet 
ter  things;  tables  set  in  the  shade  of  the  trees  in  the 
plaza,  loaded  down  with  choice  eatables  and  wines;  the 
latter  had  been  imported  from  far-away  Spain.  They 
had  knives  and  forks  to  eat  with,  also  spoons.  The 
common  people,  on  the  other  hand,  had  no  such  luxuries. 
They  dipped  the  pieces  of  meat  out  of  the  dishes  with 
their  fingers  and  sopped  their  bread  in  the  soup  dishes; 
and  each  group  drank  out  of  the  same  wine  bowl.  But 
it  was  all  the  same  to  them.  All  ate  and  talked  and  en 
joyed  themselves. 

After  the  meal,  the  men  and  women  talked  about  the 
unusual  amount  of  rain  and  the  much  better  crops  that 
would  be  raised  that  year,  about  the  fun  of  the  day,  and! 
the  extra  good  behavior  of  the  Indians  of  late.  As  they 
were  thus  conversing,  a  priest  came  from  one  of  the 
adobe  structures  adjoining  the  plaza  and  entered  a  room 
in  the  convent  where  a  group  of  priests  were  sipping 
wine  at  one  of  the  tables.  "  Oh,"  said  the  senior  priest, 
looking  up,  "  what  was  it  ?  That  was  the  most  unearthly 
yell  I  ever  heard.  What  was  the  matter  and  what  were 
you  called  for  ?  " 

"  Oh,  nothing.  It  was  an  almost  blind  Indian  woman. 
She  was  going  to  the  governor's  cellar  to  get  a  jug  of 
wine  for  his  table,  and  not  seeing  the  men  racingj  got 
run  over.  They  have  buried  her  already.  That's  all." 

"  Oh,  well,"  spoke  up  another  priest,  "  it  was  only  an 
Indian  dog,  anyway,  a  convict,  you  say.  I  suppose  you 


74  DON  DIEGO 

got  her  through  all  right ;  or  did  she  live  long  enough  to 
make  a  confession?  I  hope  she  did;  she  would  not  be 
worth  any  more  labor  on  our  part." 

"  Well,  I  have  done  my  part,"  replied  the  one  ad 
dressed.  "  But  she  being  an  Indian,  declared  she  had 
no  sins  to  confess,  that  she  had  not  sent  for  me,  her  mis 
tress  had,  and  she  kindly  thanked  her  for  it,  saying  that 
it  was  the  only  kind  act  ever  shown  her  by  the  white  peo 
ple.  She,  however,  had  no  confession  to  make,  she 
said." 

"  Oh,"  broke  in  all  at  the  table  at  once ;  "  done  no 
wrong.  She  a  convict." 

"  I  explained  to  her  the  meaning  of  confession  and 
even  went  so  far  as  to  ask  her  about  the  wrong  she  had 
done  that  brought  her  here.  And  I  was  surprised  at 
what  she  told  me.  Whether  a  lie  or  the  truth,  I  could  not 
tell.  It  is  a  confession  I  shall  long  remember,  if  you 
could  call  such  a  death  statement  a  confession.  She 
declared  her  innocence  to  the  last  breath.  She  said  she 
had  committed  no  sin  against  any  god,  either  Indian 
or  white,  and  that  she  had  wronged  no  one  in  her 
life." 

"  That's  queer,"  rejoined  the  senior  priest.  "  What 
reason  did  she  give  for  being  a  convict.  She  certainly 
must  have  done  some  wrong  to  be  here  as  she  was,  and 
that,  too,  as  the  slave  of  the  governor  himself." 

"  I  asked  her  about  that,  and  she  again  declared  her 
innocence.  She  said  that  long,  long  ago,  the  governor, 
one  of  our  former  governors,  visited  Jemez,  her  home 
village,  and  that  her  husband  gave  quarters  to  two  of 
his  men  in  their  house.  She  said  that  all  had  an  enjoy 
able  time.  It  wras  a  gala  day  to  all.  The  priest  came 


DON  DIEGO  75 

to  their  house  and  they  had  him  christen  their  only  child 
Don  Diego —  " 

"  Don  Diego,"  spoke  up  one  of  the  brothers  present; 
"  that's  the  Jemez  war-captain  now.  And  this  his 
mother.  But  go  on,  brother.  Excuse  me  for  interrupt 
ing  you." 

"  Well,  the  woman  continued :  '  After  the  priest  had 
gone,  the  two  Spaniards  whom  we  had  kindly  given  quar 
ters  came  to  the  house  and  mistreated  me.  Then  they 
left.  Soon  after  they  had  gone,  my  husband  came  and 
found  me  broken-hearted.  I  told  him  all.  At  once,  he 
left  the  house,  saying  he  was  going  to  see  the  governor. 
I  never  saw  or  heard  of  him  again.  A  little  while  after 
he  left,  the  governor's  guards  entered  my  house;  tied 
and  gagged  me,  and  started  that  same  night  for  this 
place  with  me.  I  have  been  a  slave  ever  since.  I  have 
been  cruelly  treated  always.  See  these  marks  on  my 
body  where  I  have  been  whipped  nearly  to  death  time 
and  again.  Why  I  was  arrested,  I  do  not  know.  I 
was  never  given  any  chance  to  make  any  defense.  I 
was  not  allowed  so  much  as  to  open  my  mouth.  And  I 
have  never  been  allowed  to  mention  the  subject  to  this 
day.  Then  you  will  come  and  ask  me  to  confess  to  your 
God  when  I  am  dying.  No,  I  do  not  wish  to  have  any 
thing  to  do  with  your  unjust  race  and  your  gods.  I 
wish  to  thank  my  mistress  again  for  her  kindness  to  me 
in  sending  for  you;  but  her  act  covers  a  multitude  of 
sins.  She  sent  me  into  the  street  to  get  me  run  over, 
because  I  am  old  and  am  no  longer  profitable  to  keep.  I 
am  worth  more  dead  than  alive.  So,  I  die.  No,  I  do 
not  need  your  help.  I  do  not  need  your  prayers.  My 
father  and  brother,  Pest-ya-sode,  has  a  place  for  me  in 


76  DON  DIEGO 

"  she-pa-pa."  I  am  going  to  it  and  there  I'll  be  a  slave  no 
longer. 

"  '  Last  night  I  dreamed  I  was  there ;  I  was  in  the 
abode  of  the  good  Indian  dead.  My  husband  was  there 
also.  He  told  me  of  the  horrible  torture  he  had  been 
compelled  to  endure  for  many,  many  years  in  the  mines 
of  the  land  toward  the  sun  at  noon.  But  he  is  free  now, 
as  I  will  be  soon.  And  our  son.  I  saw  him  in  my 
dream. — ' 

"  She  ceased  talking.  I  looked  and  she  was  dead. 
Well,  she's  buried  now  and  gone  to  her  beloved  Pest-ya- 
sode." 

"  Well !  "  said  the  senior  priest.  Then  after  remain 
ing  in  a  meditative  mood  for  a  time,  he  turned  to  his 
brother  priests  and  said :  "  It  is  time  for  us  to  prepare 
for  the  next  scene  of  the  day." 

Soon  a  procession  was  forming  at  the  church.  The 
priests  came  out  first,  followed  by  men  carrying  candles. 
These  were  followed  by  men  carrying  a  huge  wooden 
cross,  and  following  these  were  half -kneeling  men  and 
women.  The  procession  passed  out  of  the  church  yard 
and  up  a  gentle  slope  to  the  top  of  a  low  hill,  supposed 
to  represent  Calvary.  Here  a  hole  was  quickly  dug  and 
the  cross  raised  to  an  upright  position.  Then  about  it 
all  knelt  devoutly  and  chanted  the  "  Miserere  "  in  a  mel 
ancholy  wail.  This  weird  performance  was  kept  up  for  a 
considerable  time  till  the  attention  of  all  was  attracted 
by  hollooing,  screaming,  crying  in  the  distance. 

Thither  then  everyone  proceeded;  that  had  been  the 
program.  The  performers  in  the  distance  were  the 
"  penitenties." 

For  several  days  a  group  of  men  had  been  secluding 


DON  DIEGO  77 

themselves  in  a  little  stone  chapel,  erected  for  the  pur 
pose  in  the  neighboring  foothills  to  the  city.  Here  they 
had  been  mortifying  their  bodies  and  doing  penance. 
They  were  known  as  the  "  Los  Hermanos  Penitenties," 
and  were  in  charge  of  an  officer  known  as  the  Hermano 
Mayor.  There  was  a  procession  of  them.  This  was 
headed  by  several  pipers  playing  an  unearthly  wail.  Fol 
lowing  these  were  several  members  of  the  fraternity, 
each  walking  backwards  and  carrying  a  huge,  hewn-out, 
wooden  cross  that  weighed  more  than  two  hundred 
pounds,  in  representation  of  Christ's  carrying  the  cross 
to  the  crucifixion.  Following  these  cross-bearers  was  a 
long  line  of  brother  penitenties,  who  were  naked,  except 
for  short  trousers.  In  addition,  the  faces  of  all  were 
concealed  in  black  cloths  and  their  heads  crowned  with 
thorns,  the  crowns  of  the  officers  and  cross-bearers  were 
more  massive  than  those  of  their  fellows.  Flanking  the 
procession  on  either  side,  men,  armed  with  whips  of 
thorny-bush  and  cacti,  were  whipping  and  pounding  the 
cross-bearers  and  processional  brothers  till  the  skin  had 
often  been  removed  and  the  flesh  was  raw  and  bleeding. 
In  addition  too,  the  processional  group  were  pricking 
themselves  with  cacti  or  any  other  horrible  thing  that 
their  imagination  could  devise  to  make  the  torture  the 
more  terrible.  Even  their  trousers  were  lined  with  cacti 
and  bound  tightly  to  the  skin.  Moreover,  other  members 
of  the  torturing  flank-runners  were  placing  cacti  in  front 
of  the  procession  that  all  might  walk  over  the  spiny  mass 
to  make  the  suffering  the  more  intense  [even  yet  this  per 
formance  is  had  in  certain  parts  of  New  Mexico:  many 
men  volunteer  their  flesh  for  the  elevation  [?]  of  their 
people  each  year].  A  cross-bearer  fell  under  the  heavy 


78  DON  DIEGO 

cross  on  account  of  the  pain  and  the  loss  of  blood ;  but 
was  beaten  with  cacti  till  he  resumed  his  task.  On  they 
came,  leaving  blood  on  the  cacti  they  were  walking  over 
and  on  the  ground.  They  entered  one  of  the  little  nar 
row  streets  between  rows  of  low  adobe  houses,  as  the 
populace  on  their  knees  lined  the  side  of  the  street  or 
followed  in  a  long  column  on  either  side  of  the  peniten 
tial  procession.  They  passed  into  the  street  surrounding 
the  plaza  and  proceeded  around  the  dwellings  and  shops 
on  its  three  sides  and  the  low  adobe  building  on  the  other 
side,  known  as  the  governor's  palace.  Here  two  of  the 
cross-bearers  became  exhausted  and  fell  beneath  the 
weighty  crosses ;  but  again  the  cacti  was  applied  unmerci 
fully  till  they  resumed  their  labors.  Across  the  plaza 
the  procession  then  proceeded  and  up  another  narrow 
street  to  the  church  entrance;  thence  to  "  Calvary." 

Arriving  at  "  the  place  of  the  skull,"  three  of  the 
cross-bearers  were  sacrificed.  They  thought  it  an  honor. 
They  were  to  impersonate  Jesus  and  the  two  thieves. 
They  were  placed  upon  the  crosses  they  had  respectfully 
carried,  backs  to  the  standard,  arms  outstretched  on  the 
cross-bar.  Then  with  hammer  and  spikes  each  and  every 
one  were  nailed  to  the  cross  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
trio  they  were  impersonating  were  nailed  to  their  respec 
tive  crosses  1,680  years  before.  Not  a  sound  was  heard 
from  the  martyrs.  Long  ropes  were  then  fastened  to 
the  head  of  each  cross  to  steady  it.  Other  brothers  then 
raised  them  to  an  elevated  position,  with  the  one  imper 
sonating  Christ  in  the  center,  the  others  partly  facing 
him.  The  base  of  each  standard  was  then  caused  to 
slip  into  a  deep  hole  prepared  for  its  support,  it  slipping 
down  with  a  thud  which  caused  excruciating  pain;  but 


DON  DIEGO  79 

it  was  silently  endured.  Then  all  the  brotherhood  gath 
ered  around  in  prayer,  some  lying  on  prickly  cacti,  some 
pressing  the  crowns  of  thorns  down  on  their  heads  till 
the  blood  ran  in  streams.  Others  were  beating  them 
selves  and  pricking  themselves  with  the  sword,  dagger- 
pointed,  Spanish  bayonet  plant.  For  an  hour  or  more 
this  horrible  blood-curdling  scene  was  allowed  to  con 
tinue.  The  whole  population  witnessed  it;  and  all  knelt 
and  prayed  with  uplifted  hands  toward  the  sufferers. 
But  the  inhuman  performance  went  on  till  those  on  the 
crosses  lost  consciousness  and  they  were  apparently  ac 
tually  dead. 

As  they  were  thus  about  to  expire,  a  few  women 
gathered  around  the  central  cross,  wailing  dismally  and 
imperso'nating  Mary  and  Martha.  This  they  continued 
to  do  for  a  considerable  time.  Then  the  crosses  were 
lowered ;  the  bodies  removed,  and  the  "  two  thieves " 
buried  in  the  church  graveyard  without  ceremony.  The 
body  of  the  honored  one  was  then  wrapped  in  cloth  and 
borne  to  a  cave  in  the  foothills  and  there  interred  with 
all  the  honors  the  church  and  Hermano  order  could  be 
stow  upon  him.  The  crowd  then  returned  to  the  city 
to  prepare  for  the  next  and  last  scene  of  the  day,  feel 
ing  that  they  had  done  their  duty  and  that  they  had  been 
forgiven  their  transgressions.  A  chosen  few,  however, 
remained  to  apply  restoratives  and  resurrect  the  victim. 
After  great  effort  on  the  part  of  the  resuscitators,  con 
sciousness  returned,  and  the  man  was  taken  to  the  vil 
lage  on  a  crude  stretcher,  as  the  resurrected  Christ.  The 
next  scene  was  then  at  hand. 

As  the  Hermano  Mayor  and  the  members  of  his  fra 
ternity  entered  the  city  carrying  the  "  resurrected  "  one 


8o  DON  DIEGO 

[had  it  been  beyond  their  power  to  resuscitate  him,  as 
was  sometimes  the  case,  a  substitute  would  have  been 
used],  the  Ma ta  China  dance  was  ushered  in,  beginning  in 
the  open  court  at  the  church  entrance,  whither  the  popu 
lace  had  assembled  for  the  performance.  Coming  out  of 
the  church,  the  dancers  lined  up  in  two  rows,  with  the 
chief  of  ceremonies  at  the  front  and  between  the  rows. 
All  were  masked.  The  chief  of  ceremonies  wore  a  mask 
resembling  the  head  of  a  donkey.  Each  of  the  dancers 
wore  a  cloth  mask,  and  a  circular,  pointed  cap,  from 
which  there  floated  variously  colored  strips  of  cloth. 

When  all  the  dancers  were  in  their  proper  places,  the 
processional  group,  bearing  the  resurrected  one,  passed 
between  the  rows  of  dancers  and  into  the  church  edifice, 
where  elaborate  ceremonies  were  performed  over  him. 
After  the  resurrection  procession  had  passed  into  the 
church  building,  the  chief  of  ceremonies  of  the  dancing 
group  began  to  writhe  and  wriggle  his  body  in  a  labori 
ous  manner.  This  performance  was  to  indicate  that 
with  the  resurrection  of  Christ  a  furious  battle  had  been 
waged  against  sin.  As  soon  as  the  chief  began  to  per 
form,  the  gaudily  attired  dancers  commenced  to  move 
their  limbs  in  a  lively  manner  to  the  time  of  the  music 
played  by  the  special  musicians  of  the  day.  They 
pranced  about  much  in  the  same  way  that  a  baboon  trips 
about  in  a  cage,  except  that  each  column  of  dancers  kept 
in  some  sort  of  a  line;  the  space  between  the  lines  was 
kept  open  for  the  master  of  ceremonies  to  perform  in. 
This  spectacular  and,  at  times,  grotesque  acting  was  kept 
up  till  sunset.  Then  the  simple-hearted  people  all  set  out 
for  their  respective  homes,  feeling  that  they  would  begin 
a  new  year  with  unsullied  records. 


CHAPTER  V 

JUST  as  the  dance  was  breaking  up,  a  strange  Indian 
carrier  handed  the  governor  a  letter.  He  tore  it 
open,  glanced  at  it  a  moment,  then  thrust  it  into  his 
pocket.  His  wife  asked  him  what  was  in  the  letter  that 
had  caused  him  to  turn  pale,  to  cause  such  a  change  to 
come  over  his  visage.  To  her  question  he  merely  an 
swered,  "  Oh,  nothing,  nothing  at  all.  Too  much  feast 
ing,  possibly." 

That  night  the  moon  rose  over  the  city  and  the  stars 
shone  brightly.  The  populace  feasted  till  a  late  hour, 
then  retired;  most  of  them  on  sheepskin  mats  in  what 
ever  house  they  happened  to  be.  But  there  was  no  sleep 
for  Governor  Otermin  and  his  official  family.  His  place 
was  lighted  and  his  office  was  filled  with  councilmen. 
The  contents  of  that  letter  were  the  subject  of  discus 
sion.  It  said  but  little  and  gave  no  definite  knowledge, 
but  enough  to  cause  the  gravest  suspicions.  It  was  dated, 
Jemez  Pueblo,  just  after  midnight,  morning  of  June  24, 
1680,  and  signed  by  Juan  de  Jesus,  Padre  de  Jemez. 
After  giving  the  customary  salutation  of  the  times  and 
ranks  of  the  parties  concerned,  it  read : 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  report  to  your  majesty  that  this 
quietness  of  the  Indians  is  forboding  trouble.  What, 
of  course,  I  do  not  know ;  but  trouble  is  brewing.  I  can 
see  it  in  the  actions  of  many  of  the  Indians,  especially 

81 


82  DON  DIEGO 

the  '  principals.'  Not  only  that,  but  last  evening  I  had 
a  squaw  at  confession.  She  said  that  while  I  was  away 
about  a  month  ago  the  Indians  had  one  of  their  forbid 
den  heathenish  dances  and  that  six  strangers  attended 
it,  also  that  that  night  there  was  a  solemn  council  held  in 
the  south  estufa.  She  further  stated  that  at  this  coun 
cil  the  visitors  made  many  and  strong  speeches,  the  pur 
pose  of  which  she  did  not  know:  it  was  forbidden  the 
women  being  told  what  they  did  in  the  secret  chamber. 
She  knew  nothing  further,  except  there  was  something 
about  a  '  mystic  cord,'  and  that  when  its  last  knot  was  un 
tied  something  dreadful  was  going  to  happen.  One  of 
these  cords  has  been  left  at  the  village  here  and  similar 
cords  had  been  left  at  each  of  the  other  Indian  villages. 
She  knew  nothing  further,  not  even  who  the  strangers 
were. 

"  I  believe  that  trouble  is  at  hand  and  beg  your 
majesty  to  use  every  possible  means  at  your  command  to 
protect  your  subjects  in  the  outlying  districts.  We  are 
wholly  unprotected  in  these  parts. 

"  I  will  advise  you,  if  possible,  of  any  suspicious  move 
ments  that  may  occur.     There  is  trouble  coming,  I  know. 
"  Your  majesty's  humble  servant,  etc., 

"  Juan  de  Jesus, 
"Padre  de  Jemez." 

"  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  letter  read,"  com 
mented  the  governor.  "  More  than  three  years  ago  it 
was  made  evident  to  this  office  through  various  channels 
that  trouble  with  these  Indians  was  imminent.  It  was 
for  that  purpose  and  not  to  fight  the  apostate  Apaches, 
as  was  given  out  to  the  public  at  the  time,  that  Padre 


DON  DIEGO  83 

Francisco  Ay  eta,  the  custodian,  went  to  Mexico  in  1677 
to  obtain  the  help  of  fifty  armed,  trained  soldiers  and  a 
thousand  horses  and  supplies  to  aid  the  people  here  and 
prevent  a  general  uprising  of  the  pueblos.  But  the  ex 
pedition  being  estimated  to  cost  14,700  pesos,  the  King 
of  Spain  delayed  his  approval  of  it  till  June,  1678,  and 
not  until  September  last  was  the  expedition  ready  to 
start  here  from  Mexico.  Furthermore,  the  officers  in 
charge  are  in  no  hurry  to  get  here.  They  will  not  be 
here  before  December  or  January.  And  the  delay  may 
be  costly.  Moreover,  many  of  these  Indians  are  shrewd 
enough  to  realize  that  the  armed  force  now  on  the  way 
are  to  suppress  their  heathenish  customs  and  more  firmly 
tighten  our  hold  upon  them  than  to  subdue  the  roving 
Apaches.  They,  no  doubt,  are  hurrying  matters  up.  I 
believe  the  Padre  Juan  de  Jesus'  suspicions  are  well- 
founded.  Similar  reports  have  been  sent  by  the  priests 
of  other  villages  lately.  Exactly  what  is  best  to  do  is 
quite  a  question.  Should  we  attempt  to  call  in  the 
priests  from  the  neighboring  Indian  villages  and  the 
small  farmers  throughout  the  entire  region,  a  massacre 
would  follow  at  once.  It  is  not  likely  they  would  ever 
be  able  to  reach  this  place.  Furthermore,  it  is  a  question 
whether  this  place  could  be  defended  against  the  savage 
hordes.  In  addition,  if  we  were  quite  certain  that  it 
could  be,  we  have  not  soldiers  enough  to  send  any  aid  to 
the  outlying  settlers.  Any  move  may  cause  an  uprising, 
and  we  are  not  at  all  prepared  for  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  by  any  possible  means  whatever  we  can  prevent 
a  clash  till  the  recruits  arrive,  we  must  do  it.  We  will 
then  be  able  to  hold  the  whole  pueblo  country  under  sub 
jection.  We  must  keep  it  under  subjection  by  craft: 


84  DON  DIEGO 

then  we  can  hold  it  by  force.  We  can  then  keep  what 
we  have  already  obtained  possession  of  that  way,  and 
we  can  extend  our  boundaries  later.  When  once  under 
our  control  completely,  the  Pueblos  can  be  compelled  to 
fight  the  Apaches  for  us.  The  Indians  know  not  their 
strength ;  they  must  not  know  it.  We  must  remain  firm, 
give  as  little  chance  for  offense  as  possible,  and  make  no 
move  that  will  cause  suspicion.  At  the  same  time  we 
must  prepare  for  the  inevitable  should  it  come. 

"  By  letters  as  fast  as  they  can  be  sent  by  carriers  and 
not  cause  any  distrust,  I  will  advise  the  different  padres 
of  possible  trouble,  and  ask  them  to  get  as  many  of  the 
Indian  women  to  confession  as  they  can  and  find  out 
from  them  any  information  they  may  have  about  what 
is  being  planned  and  about  the  six  Indians  who  are  said 
to  be  going  from  village  to  village  making  strong 
speeches  to  the  '  principals/  also  about  that  '  mystic 
cord,'  if  it  has  any  significance. 

"  In  the  letters  to  the  different  padres,  I  will  advise 
them  and  their  immediate  white  neighbors  where  to  flee 
for  refuge.  Those  from  Cochiti  south  I  will  advise  to 
flee  to  Ysleta:  those  north  of  that  village  I  will  order 
to  flee  behind  the  wall  of  this  palace. 

"  I  will  tell  the  padres  not  to  tell  anyone  of  the  sup 
posed  danger  and  these  plans,  unless  absolutely  neces 
sary.  And  I  hereby  forbid  any  of  you  to  mention  the 
subject  outside  of  this  room.  In  the  meantime,  we  will 
repair  the  walls  of  the  city  and  put  everything  in  as  good 
condition  as  can  be  done  with  the  means  at  hand.  Keep 
your  horses  in  trim  and  where  you  can  get  them  at  a  mo 
ment's  notice.  Also  watch  the  Indians  in  your  own 
households  and  the  Indians  quartered  here  in  the  vicinity 


DON  DIEGO  85 

of  the  city.  I  will  also  send  several  messengers  by  dif 
ferent  routes  to  the  recruiting  army  to  hurry  to  our  sup 
port  with  the  greatest  possible  speed.  I  hope  that 
the  catastrophe  can  be  averted;  but  feel  that  it  is  at 
hand." 

Several  days  passed,  then  the  letters  from  the  padres 
began  to  be  brought  in.  To  Governor  Otermin's  sur 
prise,  all  the  first  ones  stated  that  the  Indians  were  on 
their  best  behavior  and  that  there  was  no  ground  for  the 
current  belief  that  they  were  preparing  for  an  uprising. 
Moreover,  three  of  the  padres  went  so  far  as  to  upbraid 
the  government  for  always  suspicioning  the  natives. 
After  reading  the  letters,  the  governor  began  to  feel  that 
possibly  he  had  been  mislead.  A  letter  from  the  Pecos' 
padre,  however,  indicated  that  there  might  possibly  be 
trouble  in  the  near  future.  More  Indians  had  been  no 
ticed  going  out  to  see  the  sun  rise  than  usual;  to  see  if 
their  saviour  was  coming  on  the  wings  of  the  morning 
to  claim  his  own.  Four  fires  had  also  been  seen  burning 
without  the  village  at  night.  Two  feathered,  small  trees 
had  been  found  set  in  the  ground  on  opposite  sides  of 
the  village.  One  morning  at  dawn,  the  whole  population, 
gaudily  dressed,  marched  in  single  file  to  the  northeast 
corner  of  the  wall  of  the  village.  Reaching  it,  each  one 
tossed  a  single  feather  to  float  heavenward  on  the  gen 
tle  breeze  as  a  prayer  to  the  gods.  At  several  times,  also, 
Indians  were  seen  to  slink  into  a  dark  corner  at  night, 
if  the  priest  should  be  out  walking  in  his  yard  or  go  into 
the  street.  Then  an  owl  was  heard  to  hoot  and  to  be 
answered.  That  was  all.  Something  extraordinary  was 
going  on  in  secret.  That  was  all  the  padre  knew  about 
it. 


86  DON  DIEGO 

Several  days  again  passed  without  any  news  from  any 
of  the  outlying  districts.  Then  a  letter  came  to  the 
governor's  hand  from  the  Jemez  priest.  The  carrier 
seemed  exhausted,  and  when  asked  when  he  left  Jemez 
with  the  letter,  replied :  "  At  the  going-to-bed-time,  your 
honor." 

"And  you  here  before  I  have  had  my  breakfast;  and 
Jemez  sixty  miles  away?"  asked  the  governor. 

"  Your  honor,  the  padre  is  very  anxious  that  you 
read  that  letter,"  replied  the  carrier. 

The  governor  tore  open  the  envelope  and  spread  the 
letter  before  him.  His  eyes  unconsciously  blurred.  He 
cleared  them.  Then  glancing  over  the  heading,  which 
was  dated,  "  August  8th,  bed  time,  Pueblo  de  Jemez, 
Mission  church  of  San  Jose  de  los  Jemez,"  he  began  to 
read: 

"  I  will  never  see  you  again.  It  is  all  over  with  us 
all.  I  bid  you  all  adieu.  It  is  as  I  had  suspicioned. 
The  uprising  is  planned.  The  I3th  of  this  month  we 
are  to  be  all  massacred.  I  am  sending  you  this  note  by 
a  friendly  Indian,  one  that  I  have  trusted  these  many 
years.  Being  with  me  in  my  house,  the  Indians  have 
not  confided  to  him.  At  least,  I  do  not  think  so.  At 
any  rate,  this  is  my  only  possible  chance  to  advise  you 
of  the  calamity  at  hand,  hoping  that  it  may  yet  be  in 
your  power  to  warn  the  Spanish  families  on  the  small 
farms  in  some  of  the  out-districts  before  the  clash  comes. 

"  The  carrier  of  this  communication  I  am  sending 
over  the  mountains  by  the  Mt.  Pelado  route,  that  he  may 
not  pass  any  other  Indian  villages  and  this  letter  fall  into 
the  Indians'  hands,  and  the  messenger  likely  be  killed. 
To  cover  his  departure,  I  will  send  him  to  the  river  for 


DON  DIEGO  87 

a  water  jar  of  water.  From  there  he  will  take  the  trail. 
May  God  and  our  Holy  Mary  guard  his  footsteps. 

"  Two  days  ago  I  realized  that  I  was  a  prisoner.  In 
the  daytime  men  worked  at  various  things  in  sight  of  my 
house,  not  all  working  at  one  time,  but  first  one  and  then 
another.  Some  were  hoeing  corn;  some  picking  fruit 
from  the  near-by  orchards ;  and  so  on.  I  thought  noth 
ing  of  this,  except  that  the  Indians  were  seemingly  more 
industrious  than  usual.  At  night  time,  I  also  found 
someone  lurking  in  every  dark  corner,  only  to  slip  away 
to  some  darker,  shadier,  more  obscure  place  at  my  ap 
proach,  then  to  whistle  like  a  night  bird  or  hoot  like  an 
owl,  to  be  answered  by  some  other  bird  or  cat  in  some 
other  obscure  place.  I  knew  the  meaning  of  all  this  at 
once.  I  was  being  watched  and  was,  in  fact,  a  prisoner. 
Yesterday  I  sent  for  the  horses;  but  they  could  not  be 
found.  I  knew  the  meaning  of  this  also:  I  was  not  to 
leave  this  place. 

"  Yesterday  I  went  to  the  village.  There  in  one  part 
of  the  plaza  I  saw  an  old  man,  evidently  a  sun-priest, 
throwing  seven  small  sticks  into  a  fire  which  he  had 
kindled.  He  did  not  see  me.  I  approached  close  to  him 
unnoticed.  He  was  talking  to  his  gods.  I  understand 
the  language  here.  He  was  saying  over  and  over  again : 
'  May  the  hated  Spaniards  be  utterly  consumed  as  these 
sticks  are.'  Some  one  whistled,  and  the  aged  man  ut 
tered  not  another  word.  I  walked  on  as  though  I  had 
not  heard  him. 

"  I  came  to  the  second  plaza.  There  I  saw  an  aged 
woman  pounding  a  cub  bear  to  death.  The  Indians  be 
lieve  the  bear  is  the  evil  one.  She  was  pounding  it  and 
talking  to  her  deities.  She  was  saying  in  all  earnestness : 


88  DON  DIEGO 

'  May  our  warriors  beat  the  life  out  of  the  last  pale-face 
as  I  pound  this  cub  bear  to  death.'  A  cat  meowed  some 
where.  The  woman  dropped  the  lifeless  animal  and 
leisurely  walked  into  her  house. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon  for  writing  this  in  detail ;  but  I 
cannot  send  it  till  evening,  till  everyone  has  retired  for 
the  night.  So  am  taking  my  time  to  tell  you  all  that 
has  happened.  But  before  I  proceed  further,  I  restate 
that  August  1 3th  we  all  perish.  We  will  all  be  butch 
ered.  I  beg  you  after  reading  this  long  letter  to  send 
messengers  to  all  our  people,  if  possible,  and  get  them  in 
a  safe  place,  also  make  all  possible  preparations  for  the 
defense  of  your  city. 

"  I  tried  to  leave  here  to-day  to  carry  this  news  to 
you  and  was  prevented  from  doing  so  by  masked  men 
without  the  village ;  I  was  going  on  foot.  So  will  write 
you  everything  as  I  know  it,  for  this  is  the  last  communi 
cation  I  will  ever  be  permitted  to  send,  if  this  one;  the 
last  time  the  world  will  ever  hear  from  me.  But  before 
going  further  I  beg  you  to  send  the  messengers. 

"  As  I  was  saying,  I  was  walking  about  the  village  in 
my  official  capacity.  As  I  passed  Tongay's  house,  I 
heard  two  men  quarreling.  I  saw  the  men.  The  one 
was  the  war-captain  of  Jemez,  Don  Diego.  The  other 
man  was  a  stranger  to  me  and  not  a  native  of  Jemez;  for 
he  could  not  talk  the  Jemez  dialect.  The  men  were  using 
the  Spanish  as  a  medium  of  communication.  They  did 
not  see  me ;  no  one  in  that  part  of  the  village  knew  that 
I  was  there.  I  learned  from  the  conversation  that  the 
stranger's  name  was  Ojeda  and  that  he  was  a  Santa  Anna 
Indian,  the  war-captain  of  that  village,  I  believe.  The 


DON  DIEGO  89 

men  were  quarreling  over  Geetlu,  Tongay's  oldest  daugh 
ter.  Don  Diego  was  saying: 

"  '  Ojeda,  you  Santa  Anna  dog,  you  bring  men  here, 
big  chief  men.  You  make  big  speeches  to  have  us  kill 
all  the  white  men.  Then  you  come  back  here  under  first 
one  pretext  and  then  another  to  try  to  get  my  fiance,  my 
Geetlu,  to  go  to  your  village  to  be  your  wife.  No,  you 
cannot  do  that  thing.  Go  to  your  home  at  once  or  you 
will  die  before  the  pale- faces  you  caused  us  to  plan  to 
kill.  Go—' 

"  A  rooster  crowed.  The  men  stepped  into  an  ad 
joining  room  and  I  heard  nothing  more,  nothing  only 
a  woman  crying  and  saying :  '  Don't  kill  him.'  I  saw 
her.  It  was  Geetlu.  Almost  instantly  I  heard  a  woman 
in  some  other  part  of  the  house  utter  a  hissing  '  Sh'h  ' ; 
and  the  maiden  likewise  disappeared. 

"  Heavy  of  heart,  I  walked  on  to  my  house.  I  knew 
then  that  our  fate  was  sealed;  but  when  was  the  dread 
ful  day  to  come.  It  was  not  far  distant,  I  was  sure. 
Good  fortune,  in  a  sense,  followed. 

"  I  had  been  in  my  residence  only  a  little  while,  when 
Geetlu' s  younger  sister,  a  young  woman  about  seventeen 
years  of  age,  opened  my  door  and  came  into  my  room 
without  waiting  to  knock.  She  was  perfectly  composed 
when  she  entered.  No  one  would  have  thought  her  mes 
sage  by  her  appearance.  Coming  in  she  looked  all  about 
to  see  if  anyone  else  was  in  my  apartments.  Satisfying 
herself  that  we  were  alone,  she  walked  up  to  me  and 
placed  her  hand  on  my  head.  Then  she  began  crying. 
I  said  to  her,  as  I  stroked  her  long,  jet-black  hair: 
'  What  is  it  ?  Tell  your  white  friend,  your  white  brother, 


90  DON  DIEGO 

what  the  trouble  is.'  She  stepped  a  few  paces  from  me 
to  the  other  side  of  the  room.  Then  stood  and  looked 
at  me  for  a  few  minutes  before  saying  a  word.  Then 
in  faltering  tones : 

"  '  My  good  padre,  five  suns  more  and  you  are  to  be 
whipped  and  goaded  to  death  in  the  plaza  and  all  the 
white  people  in  this  whole  country  from  the  white-topped 
mountains  to  the  north  to  the  boiling  ocean  toward  the 
noon-day  sun  are  to  be  killed.  O  father,  you  have  been 
so  good  to  us  all.  To-day  Ojeda,  the  big  war  chief  of 
the  Santa  Anna  Indians,  came  here  to  take  my  sister 
with  him  to  his  own  village  to  be  his  wife,  though  he 
knew  that  it  was  understood  long  ago  that  she  was  to 
be  the  wife  of  our  war  chief,  Don  Diego.  This  Ojeda 
is  the  one  who  made  the  big  speeches  here  once  when 
you  were  away.  He  was  one  of  the  men  who  got  the 
people  to  agree  to  kill  all  the  white  men.  He  persuaded 
Don  Diego  to  agree  to  do  it  against  his  will.  Don  Diego 
is  a  good  man  at  heart  and  I  wanted  him  to  marry  my 
sister  and  my  sister  wished  to  marry  him.  To-day,  this 
Ojeda,  a  cruel- faced  man  to  my  eyes,  came  here  and  per 
suaded  my  parents  through  presents  to  let  him  have  their 
daughter.  Then  he  proceeded  to  take  her  with  him. 
She  objected  to  leaving  our  village  and  the  one  she 
thought  the  most  of.  She  refused  to  go  and,  through 
me,  sent  for  Don  Diego.  He  came  and  compelled  that 
Santa  Anna  chief  to  leave  the  place  without  my  sister. 
They  quarreled  and  started  several  times  to  use  the  ax  on 
each  other;  but  the  women  and  my  father  prevented 
their  fighting.  At  last,  as  my  sister  cried  a  great  deal 
and  begged  the  men  not  to  kill  each  other,  at  the  same 
time  declaring  that  she  would  never  be  the  wife  of  Ojeda, 


DON  DIEGO  91 

that  Santa  Anna  war-captain  left  the  village  for  his 
home. 

"  '  Since  that  chief's  departure,  my  sister  has  become 
the  wife  of  our  war-captain.  He  placed  the  dress- 
blanket  over  her  nude  form,  as  is  our  custom  in  marriage. 
Then  she  baked  him  the  ceremonial  cakes  and  he  ate 
them,  and  she  has  combed  and  done  up  his  hair.  Now 
they  are  husband  and  wife,  and  he  has  taken  her  to  his 
own  house. 

"  '  While  he  was  eating  the  cakes,  they  talked  a  great 
deal.  I  was  in  the  little  dark  room.  I  had  crawled  in 
there  when  I  thought  the  men  were  going  to  fight  and  I 
was  still  in  there.  My  sister  asked  what  he  and  Ojeda 
meant  when  they  spoke  about  killing  all  the  white  people. 
For  a  few  minutes  Don  Diego  looked  puzzled.  Then 
he  got  up  and  looked  all  about  the  room,  then  into  the 
next  room,  then  into  the  dark  room  where  I  was,  then 
out  into  the  adjacent  street  to  see  if  there  was  anybody 
about.  He  did  not  see  me,  as  I  hid  under  a  blanket  in  a 
very  dark  corner.  Supposing  no  one  about,  he  com 
menced  to  talk  to  my  sister  about  the  many,  many  things 
which  are  about  to  happen.  I  heard  your  name  men 
tioned.  I  heard  him  say  that  all  the  white  people  were 
to  be  killed  in  one  day.  I  could  not  hear  all  that  they 
said  distinctly  in  the  corner  where  I  was.  So  I  crawled 
very  carefully  to  the  open  door  of  the  room  I  was  in  and 
slid  myself  along  the  wall  till  my  ear  was  in  front  and 
just  beneath  the  opening.  There  I  laid  and  listened.  I 
could  then  hear  distinctly  everything  that  was  said.  It 
was  something  like  this,  as  I  remember  it : 

"  '  "  Yes,  Geetlu,  we  are  to  kill  all  the  white  people. 
Four  days  more  and  we  will  kill  them  all." 


92  DON  DIEGO 

"  '  "  And  will  you  kill  our  good  padre,  Juan  de  Jesus," 
broke  in  my  sister. 

"  '  "  Yes,  Pope  of  Taos,  Catite  of  Santo  Domingo, 
the  one  of  Picuri,  this  Ojeda  of  Santa  Anna,  and  the 
other  strangers  who  were  here  when  we  had  that  special 
dance,  say  that  we  must  kill  all  the  white  people.  These 
men  are  the  leaders.  We  must  obey  them.  All  the 
white  people  are  bad,  they  say,  and  the  priests  are  the 
worst  of  all.  Yes,  we  will  kill  him.  He  will  never  live 
to  leave  this  place.  The  gods  have  ordered  it." 

"  '  At  this  juncture  my  sister  sighed  and  remarked : 
"  Poor,  poor  padre  Juan  de  Jesus.  He  has  always  been 
good  to  everyone." 

"  '  Don  Diego  here  said  rather  sharply  to  my  sister : 
"  You  are  to  keep  secret  what  I  tell  you.  You  are  not 
to  tell  anyone;  not  anybody.  If  you  do  both  you  and  I 
will  be  put  to  death,  and  the  cause  for  which  we  are  all 
going  to  fight  will  be  lost. 

"  '  "  As  I  was  going  to  say,"  he  continued,  "  they 
came  here  and  made  big  speeches  that  night  in  the  estufa. 
I  was  opposed  to  war  to  the  last  minute.  When  sud 
denly  my  father  and  mother  appeared  before  me  in  a 
vision.  You  know  they  were  both  sold  into  captivity 
when  I  was  very  small.  My  father  appeared  to  me.  His 
hands  were  swollen  from  climbing  ropes.  Great  cuts 
showed  over  his  body  where  he  had  been  whipped  nearly 
to  death  time  and  again.  Blood  was  besmearing  his  body 
from  a  gun-shot  wound  in  the  back.  I  could  see  him 
distinctly,  and  my  poor  bent-over  mother.  My  father, 
with  uplifted,  trembling  hands,  begged,  commanded  me 
to  fight  the  pale- faces.  So  I  got  up  and  struck  my 
hatchet  into  the  big  post  in  the  center  of  the  estufa.  In- 


GOVERNOR'S  Two  DAUGHTERS,   SAN   ILDEFONSO,  NEW   MEXICO 


DON  DIEGO  93 

stantly  I  heard  my  father  exclaim :  '  Ye  gods,  it  is 
done ! '  I  looked  and  the  vision  had  vanished,  and 
around  me  were  the  Jemez  principals  voting  for  war  as 
I  had  done.  By  that  vote,  five  days  from  to-day  we 
will  fall  upon  all  the  white  people  as  one  man  and  kill; 
not  one  is  to  be  left  alive.  Here  is  the  cord  they  left 
for  us  to  count  the  days  on  till  the  uprising.  It  is  a 
twisted,  maguey-fiber  rope.  It  had  knots  on  it  for  each 
day  from  the  day  of  the  meeting  in  the  estufa  to  the 
time  of  the  killing  of  the  white  people.  Each  day  a  knot 
is  to  be  untied  till  all  are  untied.  The  day  the  last  knot 
is  untied  is  to  be  the  day  of  the  outbreak." 

"  '  I  lifted  my  head  so  that  I  could  peer  out  through 
the  latch  hole  in  the  wall  of  the  door  casing.  There  I 
saw  Don  Diego  holding  up  a  small  rope  for  my  sister 
to  count  the  knots  yet  remaining  on  it.  Fearing  they 
would  see  or  hear  me,  I  again  lay  down  close  to  the  wall, 
as  quietly  as  possible. 

"  '  They  talked  only  a  little  while  longer;  then  left  the 
room  to  go  to  his  father's  house,  as  man  and  wife.  After 
they  had  gone,  I  came  from  my  seclusion;  and  there  in 
the  room  where  they  had  been  sitting  was  that  mystic 
cord.  They  had  forgotten  to  take  it.  Here  it  is.  See 
the  many  places  where  the  knots  have  been  untied.  And 
see  there  is  just  as  many  more  knots  on  it  as  the  fingers 
and  thumb  on  my  one  hand.  The  day  this  knot  is  left  to 
be  untied  is  the  day  they  are  to  kill  you  and  all  the  white 
people.  Poor,  poor,  good  white  man,  they  will  kill  you, 
too.' 

"  She  walked  over  to  me,  crying  again,  and,  putting 
her  hands  on  my  head  in  a  stroking  manner,  then  on  my 
shoulders,  she  blew  a  gentle  breath  in  blessing  on  me. 


94  DON  DIEGO 

Then  she  instantly  departed  before  I  had  time  to  bless 
her  in  the  name  of  God  and  Santa  Marie. 

"  I  have  nothing  more  to  write,  except  that  at  some 
time  when  our  people  again  subdue  this  region,  I  beg 
that  my  bones,  if  found,  be  interred  in  the  Holy  ceme 
tery  at  Santa  Fe  with  appropriate  Christian  burial  cere 
monies. 

"  There  is  nothing  more.  I  will  now  prepare  to  meet 
my  God.  May  God  and  Holy  Mary  aid  and  bless  you 
all. 

"  I  bid  you  all  adieu  for  the  last  time. 
"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  Juan  de  Jesus, 
"  Padre  de  Jemez." 

Hurried  were  the  footsteps  in  the  capital  building. 
Messengers  were  running  to  and  fro.  Others  were  writ 
ing  orders.  Soon  horsemen  were  thundering  over  the 
hills  to  the  distant  villages  and  ranches.  Before  the  sun 
had  left  the  western  sky,  there  was  great  excitement  in 
all  the  settlements  that  could  be  reached.  As  darkness 
closed  over  the  land,  all  that  could  possibly  do  so  were 
fleeing  to  a  place  of  safety,  those  south  of  San  Felipe  to 
Ysleta,  those  north  of  that  village  to  Santa  Cruz  or  to 
Santa  Fe.  The  gates  of  the  capital  city  were  also  closed ; 
and  sentries  and  bristling  cannon,  brought  out  for  action, 
told  that  the  days  of  peace  were  over. 


CHAPTER  VI 

IT  was  the  9th  of  August,  1680.  The  sun  was  still 
pouring  his  burning  rays  down  into  the  upper  Rio 
Grande  valley.  A  sand  storm  was  raging  on  the  bar 
ren  region  beyond.  A  "  thunder-gust  "  was  winding  its 
way  among  the  distant  mountain  tops.  In  the  valley  a 
lone  footman  was  wending  his  way  toward  Taos  at  a 
coyote  gallop.  He  had  been  running  all  day,  as  no  one 
but  a  Pueblo  Indian  can  run.  He  neared  the  village. 
He  entered  it  and  ran  directly  to  the  house  of  Pope,  the 
leader  of  the  proposed  uprising.  He  rushed  into  the 
house  and  into  its  secret  room,  where  he  found  that  dis 
tinguished  Indian  chipping  flints  for  arrow  points. 
Breathlessly  the  runner  paused  a  moment,  as  the  other 
Indian  faced  about  and  saw  —  what  ? 

"  My  brother,"  exclaimed  the  new-comer,  getting  his 
breath,  "  they  know  all.  It's  all  over  with  us.  They 
know  all,"  he  repeated.  "  The  pale-faces  know  all  we 
have  planned  to  do ;  they  know  that  we  have  planned  an 
uprising.  Some  woman  found  it  out  and  has  told  them. 
Pale-face  messengers  are  running  their  horses  every 
where.  The  white  people  are  fleeing  behind  the  walls  of 
Santa  Fe  and  Santa  Cruz.  The  — " 

But  the  chief  waited  to  hear  no  more.  Instantly  he 
was  in  the  plaza  and  in  another  instant  he  was  on  the 
estufa.  The  big  drum  sounded;  and  the  plaza  and 
streets  were  alive  with  people.  Before  another  hour, 

95 


96  DON  DIEGO 

messengers  were  racing  to  the  many  pueblos.  Time  was 
precious :  they  must  strike  the  fatal  blow  while  the  snake 
was  yet  uncoiled. 

After  the  messengers  had  departed,  Pope  returned 
from  the  plaza,  entered  the  estufa,  and  quiet  again  set 
tled  down  over  the  village. 

The  chief  medicine  man,  the  cacique  of  the  place,  had 
preceded  Pope  in  entering  that  house  of  the  gods  for 
war  preparations.  As  the  latter  climbed  down  the  lad 
der  to  the  floor  of  the  edifice,  the  medicine  man  ad 
dressed  him: 

"  War-captain,  the  great  crisis  is  at  hand.  The  an- 
nihilators  of  the  children  of  the  sun,  the  desecrators  of 
altars  and  religious  houses,  the  destroyers  of  the  wor 
ship  of  nature  must  be  exterminated  or  expelled  from 
this  land.  I  present  you  to  the  gods  to  lead  the  pueblo 
nations  to  battle  against  these  vile  men." 

Then  as  he  prayed  and  sprinkled  Pope  with  the  sacred 
corn  pollen,  the  dust  of  the  gods,  he  presented  him  be 
fore  each  of  the  symbolic  paintings  on  the  walls  of  the 
edifice  in  the  order  of  their  occurrence  beginning  with 
the  sun-god  group  and  ending  with  that  of  the  moon- 
god  group,  paintings  very  similar  to  those  on  the  god- 
clown  masks  eight  times  enlarged.  When  the  circle  of 
the  wall  was  completed,  he  lead  him  to  the  black  mats  and 
sand  drawings  near  the  center  of  the  room,  presenting 
him  before  the  step-like  altars,  stone  gods  and  images 
of  Pest-ya-sode  and  his  wife,  at  the  head  of  each  respec 
tive  mat  as  he  continued  his  praying  and  sprinkling. 
The  medicine  man  next  presented  him  before  the  altar 
of  the  grove  behind  the  fireplace  in  the  center  of  the 
room. 


DON  DIEGO  97 

Time  and  again  had  the  war  chief  seen  this  altar,  but 
never  had  he  been  formerly  introduced  to  it,  never  be 
fore  had  it  meant  so  much  to  him.  He  inspected  each 
thing  carefully.  A  miniature  grove  of  pine  extended  out 
in  horn-shape  from  the  corner  of  the  chimney  on  each 
side  of  the  altar,  the  two  horns  almost  forming  a  half 


A  sand  drawing  used  in  the  Masked  Ghost  Dance  of  March  17,  1900. 

circle.  The  painting  on  the  chimney  wall,  like  those 
on  the  masks,  had  central  figures  surrounded  at  the  sides 
by  marginal  black  lines  representing  clouds.  From  these 
projected  inward,  one  above  another,  the  Rain  Snake,  the 
God  of  Bloom,  the  Red  Snake,  the  Bolt  Lightning.  The 
central  figure  in  this  case  was  the  Rainbow  in  the  West. 


98  DON  DIEGO 

It  rested  at  each  end  upon  four  pillars  of  clouds.  Above 
each  group  of  these  sat  a  water  jar  from  which  the  God 
of  Bloom  extended  skyward.  From  beneath  each  group, 
drops  of  rain  were  represented  as  falling  toward  the 
earth.  From  the  rainbow-arch,  three  darts  of  protection 
lifted  their  barbed  points  on  high.  Beneath  the  arch  on 
the  center  line  were  drawings  of  the  sun,  moon,  and 
great  stars.  The  sun  occupied  the  upper  central  posi 
tion,  the  moon  the  lower.  The  morning  star  occupied  a 
position  to  the  right  of  the  major  symbols  within  the 
arch,  the  evening  star  a  position  to  the  left.  The  altar 
was  of  stone  and  without  ornamentation.  On  it,  in  the 
center,  sat  an  earthen  bowl  rilled  with  corn  pollen.  In 
front  of  it  was  a  sand-drawing  on  the  floor  of  the  room. 
On  this  were  placed  bunches  of  downy  eagle  feathers, 
which  represented  the  prayers  of  the  village  before  those 
above.  Among  these,  set  bowls  of  corn  pollen  and  meal, 
the  representatives  of  medicine  and  prayer.  Among 
these  at  the  right  of  the  altar  stood  an  image  of  Pest-ya- 
sode  beside  that  of  a  crouching  mountain  lion.  At  the 
left  stood  an  image  of  Pest-ya-sode's  wife,  at  the 
side  of  which  was  that  of  a  bear.  The  god  had  a  rod  of 
authority  in  each  hand;  his  wife  a  bunch  of  pine  twigs. 
All  these  Pope  took  in  at  a  glance.  Then  kneeling  be 
fore  the  altar  in  the  midst  of  the  bunches  of  feathers 
and  bowls  of  sacred  meal  and  corn  pollen,  he  received 
the  further  religious  preparation  for  the  great  work  be 
fore  him.  The  medicine  man  leaning  over  him  sprin 
kled  him  with  the  sacred  dust,  rubbed  him  with  feathers, 
and  put  sacred  corn  pollen  in  water  and  had  him  drink 
it.  Then  as  he  lifted  his  hands  in  supplication,  he 
prayed : 


DON  DIEGO  99 

"  O  sun,  O  moon,  O  morning  star,  O  evening  star, 
O  rainbow  in  the  East,  O  rainbow  in  the  West,  O  bolt 
lightning,  O  red  snake,  O  flash  lightning,  O  rain  snake, 
O  all  the  gods  of  our  fathers,  take  this  man,  our  war- 
captain,  the  war-captain  of  all  the  Pueblos,  and  give  him 
and  his  braves  the  strength  and  cunning  of  the  lion! 
Give  them  the  courage  and  valor  of  the  great  Pest-ya- 
sode!  Direct  them  in  battle!  Reduce  our  enemies  to 
annihilation !  Perpetuate  the  religion  established  by 
Pest-ya-sode,  your  son !  "  He  then  blew  in  blessing  on 
Pope  and  said :  "  Call  your  braves !  Overcome  the 
enemy  in  the  name  of  those  above !  " 

The  big  drum  again  sounded.  "  Waw,  waw,  waw," 
shrieked  an  old  woman,  as  she  batted  her  mouth  to  make 
the  noise  the  more  terrible.  "  Waw,  waw,"  she  con 
tinued  as  she  entered  the  plaza,  carrying  a  cub  bear  in 
one  arm  and  a  club  under  the  other.  "  Waw,  waw,"  she 
howled  till  the  savages  filled  the  plaza  about  her.  Then 
taking  the  innocent  animal  by  the  neck  and  shaking  it 
she  ceased  her  "  wawing  "  and  said : 

"  This  is  the  representative  of  one  of  the  enemies  of 
our  race.  Long,  long  ago  our  mother,  the  moon,  went 
down  to  the  river  in  the  early  morning  to  get  water  to 
use  in  cooking  breakfast  for  our  father,  the  sun.  She 
dipped  the  water  jar  into  the  flowing  water  and  filled 
it  nearly  full.  Then  to  complete  the  filling,  she  took  the 
gourd  cup,  as  we  all  do,  and  commenced  dipping  up  cups 
of  water  to  put  into  the  jar.  Once  as  she  leaned  over 
to  fill  the  cup,  a  bear,  which  had  approached  her  unno 
ticed,  seized  her  from  behind  and  carried  her  to  his  great 
cave  in  the  mountains.  In  the  entrance  way  he  rolled  a  big 
rock  and  there  he  kept  her,  bringing  her  food  each  day. 


ioo  DON  DIEGO 

"  After  she  had  been  there  a  great  while,  she  gave 
birth  to  a  male  child,  the  son  of  the  god  of  day.  This 
child  grew  to  his  full  maturity  in  this  cave.  He  could 
not  get  out,  because,  on  leaving  each  morning  to  search 
for  food,  the  bear  always  rolled  the  rock  into  the  en 
trance,  and,  on  his  returning,  he  closed  it  behind  him  at 
all  times  with  the  same  rock.  But  after  obtaining  his 
full  powers,  this  offspring  of  the  parents  of  all  things 
was  able  to  roll  the  stone  away  and  go  where  and  when 
ever  he  pleased.  He  always  continued,  however,  to  go 
after  the  bear  had  departed  in  pursuit  of  game  and  to 
return  before  that  animal  came  back  at  the  close  of 
day. 

"  At  first,  this  son  of  the  moon-mother  thought  that 
he  was  the  offspring  of  the  bear,  but,  at  length,  his  mother 
told  him  who  his  true  father  was  and  related  to  him 
how  it  happened  that  she  was  in  that  miserable  condition. 
From  that  time  on  the  mother  and  son  talked  over  plans 
of  escape.  At  last  they  made  up  their  minds  what  to  do, 
and  at  the  first  opportunity  they  failed  not  to  put  their 
plans  into  execution. 

"  As  soon  as  the  bear  was  out  of  sight  and  hearing 
one  morning,  the  son  of  our  great  mother  rolled  the 
stone  from  the  cave  entrance,  put  his  mother  on  his  back, 
and  ran  and  ran  all  day  toward  the  place  where  the  sun 
sets ;  because  he  knew  that  at  this  place  the  sun  touches 
the  earth  on  all  sides  of  the  great  hole  at  his  going  down. 
Towards  night  they  could  hear  the  growling  bear  com 
ing  in  the  distance.  Harder  and  harder  our  first  brother 
ran  with  our  mother.  Nearer  and  nearer  the  bear  came. 
With  open  mouth  he  got  so  close  to  them  that  his  breath 
blew  in  our  mother's  face.  With  a  horrifying  growl  the 


DON  DIEGO  101 

animal  sprang  to  seize  her.  At  the  same  moment  our 
brother,  with  one  great  leap,  reached  the  palace  of 
the  sun.  The  great  gate  closed  and  shut  the  bear 
out. 

"  But  the  terrible  beast  charged  upon  the  gate  and 
would  have  broken  it  in  pieces  had  not  our  brother  left 
his  mother  and  drove  him  from  the  palace  front  with  his 
mighty  war-club.  Bent  upon  having  his  wife,  as  the  bear 
styled  our  mother,  he  then  attacked  the  palace  in  the 
rear.  On  this  side  another  of  our  brothers,  a  son  of 
those  above,  defended  the  edifice  and  drove  the  infuri 
ated  animal  away. 

"  To  reward  these  defenders  of  the  sun's  wife  and  of 
his  home,  the  Great  Spirit  made  our  first  brother  the 
morning  star,  and  the  other  brother  the  evening  star. 
They  are  in  the  sky.  We  have  all  seen  them.  The  morn 
ing  star  still  guards  the  entrance  to  the  sun  in  front, 
the  evening  star  the  entrance  in  the  rear.  These  two 
brothers  our  father  has  made  the  emblems  of  truth, 
bravery,  and  filial  love. 

"  Ever  since  the  rescue,  the  bear  and  his  descendants 
have  been  enemies  of  the  moon,  or  mother-god  and 
her  children,  and  ever  since  then  it  has  been  the  woman's 
privilege,  the  woman's  duty  to  destroy  the  bear  every 
chance  she  can  to  avenge  the  wrong  done  the  moon- 
mother  in  the  long  ago.  Our  sons  capture  or  kill  them, 
and  we  take  revenge  on  the  living  animal  or  upon  its 
lifeless  hide. 

"  The  bear  is  the  enemy  of  our  race.  In  vengeance 
for  the  loss  of  his  wife  in  the  long,  long  ages  ago,  he 
has  come  upon  us  in  the  form  of  these  pale-faces.  O 
sun,  O  moon,  O  morning  star,  O  evening  star,  O  flash 


102  DON  DIEGO 

lightning,  O  bolt  lightning,  O  water  snake,  O  all  the 
gods  of  our  fathers,  may  all  our  enemies  perish  as  this 
bear,  the  representative  of  evil !  " 

"  Waw,  waw,"  shrieked  the  aged  squaw  again.  The 
lookers-on  struck  up  the  bear  chant.  The  drummers 
beat  the  drum.  The  aged  squaw  danced  the  bear  dance, 
shaking  first  the  club  toward  the  god  of  day,  then  the 
struggling  little  bear.  The  medicine  men  and  sun- 
priests  sprinkled  the  dancer  with  sacred  meal  and  prayed 
to  those  above.  The  old  woman  dropped  the  bear  to 
the  ground,  and,  as  the  helpless  little  thing  howled  and 
cried  most  pitiably,  she  beat  it  to  death. 

Picking  up  the  lifeless  body,  the  old  woman  shook  it, 
saying:  "So  be  it  to  all  the  pale- faces  in  our  land." 
Then  dancing  about  the  plaza  as  she  shrieked  and  batted 
her  mouth,  she  entered  her  own  house  and  laid  the  bear 
with  head  to  the  fire  a  moment,  then  laid  it  in  the  rear 
of  the  room  with  head  still  toward  the  fire.  Here  to 
this  house  the  populace  followed.  Hither  the  women 
then  rushed  with  baskets  of  eatables.  Hither  into  this 
house  entered  the  populace.  As  each  entered,  he  blew  on 
his  right  hand,  patted  the  bear  a  moment  with  that  hand, 
passed  on,  squatted  himself  on  the  floor  and  partook 
of  the  feast  till  he  had  satisfied  his  hunger.  Then  he 
arose,  lit  the  ceremonial  cigarette  and  passed  out  again 
into  the  public  dancing  area.  Here  seated  in  the  center 
of  the  area,  the  hero,  the  Indian  who  had  touched  the 
bear  first  when  it  was  captured,  was  telling  everyone 
his  hunting  adventures  and  the  difficulties  he  had  in  cap 
turing  and  caging  the  cub  bear  which  his  mother  had 
just  killed,  closing  with:  "May  the  gods  do  unto  the 
white  people  as  we  have  done  unto  this  bear." 


DON  DIEGO  103 

Hardly  had  the  ceremony  over  the  bear  been  completed 
at  the  residence  when  a  continuation  of  the  bear  cere 
monies  were  begun  in  the  plaza.  Hither  men,  dressed 
in  breech  cloths,  their  bodies  painted  in  symbolic  colors, 
their  heads  decked  with  feathers,  came  and  began  to  dance 
in  single  file  back  and  forth  across  the  public  dancing 
area,  as  the  chief  penitents  beat  drums,  sang  the  bear 
song,  gesticulated  to  bring  out  the  meaning  of  the  song. 
Soon  almost  all  of  the  male  population  of  the  village 
joined  the  musicians,  and,  as  all  sang  or  shouted  at  the 
top  of  their  voices,  the  whole  procession,  dancers  and 
all,  moved  toward  the  general  feast  hall  of  the  pueblo. 
As  they  neared  it,  women  rushed  out  of  their  houses 
with  baskets  of  eatables.  These  they  threw  skyward  to 
shower  down  upon  the  dancers  and  chanters,  as  a  thank 
offering  to  those  above. 

On  entering  the  feast  hall,  the  aged  woman,  with  the 
hide  of  the  cub  bear  she  had  killed,  headed  the  proces 
sion,  dancing,  "  wawing,"  and  batting  her  mouth  with 
her  hand.  Thus  performing,  she  encircled  the  middle 
space  of  the  room  twice.  She  then  proceeded  to  her 
son,  the  hero,  blew  on  him  in  blessing,  gave  him  the 
hide  and  immediately  left  the  room. 

As  soon  as  the  mother  had  departed,  the  chief  med 
icine  men  sprinkled  the  bearskin  and  its  possessor  with 
sacred  corn  pollen  as  they  prayed  to  the  gods.  One  of 
their  number  cut  the  left  front  leg  from  the  hide  and 
placed  it  among  his  medicine  curios.  While  the  pop 
ulace  danced  from  left  to  right  around  him,  he  laid 
the  hide  on  the  ground  and  stamped  on  it  as  he  prayed 
and  sprinkled  on  it  the  sacred  dust,  saying  in  the  con 
cluding  words  of  the  prayer: 


104  DON  DIEGO 

"  O  gods,  give  us  strength  to  destroy  our  enemies  as 
we  have  destroyed  this  bear." 

"  Finishing  his  earnest  appeal,  he  gave  the  hide  to  Pope 
and  left  the  ring. 

The  scene  at  once  changed.  With  one  blow,  Pope 
severed  the  scalp  from  the  hide  and  hoisted  it  on  a  pole. 
Then  around  it  the  men  danced  the  scalp  dance,  as  they 
chanted  over  and  over  again  the  words :  "  May  the 
scalps  of  our  enemies  hang  as  trophies  in  the  houses  of 
our  gods  as  this  scalp  of  the  hereditary  enemy  of  our 
race  hangs  in  our  feast  house." 

Boom  sounded  the  estufa  drum.  At  once  the  scene 
again  changed.  Shrieks  and  war  whoops  sounded  from 
every  part  of  the  village  and  gave  back  their  echoes  from 
the  surrounding  hills  and  mesas.  The  warriors  stripped 
themselves,  smeared  their  bodies  with  grease,  daubed 
themselves  with  paint,  bedecked  themselves  with  feath 
ers,  took  their  shields,  bows,  quivers,  and  tomahawks, 
marched  to  the  sun  house  [kiva~\,  passed  before  the  rep 
resentatives  of  the  gods  on  the  walls,  before  the  black 
mat  and  sand  paintings  in  the  center  of  the  room  and  be 
fore  the  altar  and  the  grove  behind  the  fireplace  chim 
ney.  From  there  they  made  the  circuit  of  the  village, 
passed  into  the  secret  chambers  and  dark  rooms  be 
fore  the  drawings  of  the  great  serpent  and  the  altars 
and  sand  drawings  of  the  Snake  Society,  of  the  Giant 
Society,  and  of  the  Knife  Society.  Thence  they  re 
turned  to  the  plaza,  danced  the  war  dance,  shrieked, 
whooped  till  the  morning  star  looked  over  the  eastern 
horizon.  Then  they  set  out  on  their  mission  of  destruc 
tion  and  butchery,  as  had  the  other  Indian  villages  as 
soon  as  Pope's  messengers  arrived. 


CHAPTER  VII 

PEACEFULLY  the  northern  missions  and  neighbor 
ing   ranches    were    wrapped    in    sleep.     Otermin's 
messengers  in  that  direction  had  all  been  killed  and  no 
one  had  been  warned. 

Just  as  the  first  streak  of  faint  light  began  to  rise 
above  the  mountains  to  the  eastward  of  the  Rio  Grande 
in  that  section,  a  little  baby  cried  in  one  of  the  "  ranch  " 
houses.  The  mother  sang  a  sweet  lullaby  and  soothed 
the  child  to  sleep,  and  was  soon  asleep  herself,  again, 
never  to  awaken.  A  man  heard  one  of  his  horses  neigh 
ing  and  whinnying  and  went  out  to  see  what  was  dis 
turbing  it :  he  never  came  back.  A  shepherd  was  awak 
ened  by  his  sheep  being  disturbed.  Thinking  that  a  wolf 
or  bear  was  attempting  to  secure  a  lamb  for  his  break 
fast,  he  werit  to  the  corral  and  met  the  same  fate  as 
his  sheep.  A  Mexican  woman  arose  early  and  started 
to  the  river  to  get  a  water  jar  of  water :  her  dismembered 
body  turned  to  dust  under  a  juniper  tree  near  the  river's 
brink.  A  devoted  padre  walked  a  short  distance  from 
one  of  the  missions  to  engage  in  secret  communication 
with  his  God:  the  Indian  ax  did  its  work.  Yet,  though 
all  these  things  had  occurred,  everything  was  still,  save 
the  whistling  of  the  customary,  cool,  morning  breeze 
from  the  mountain  tops.  •  ^ 

Suddenly,   throughout  the  whole   section,   the   blood 
curdling  Indian  warwhoop  resounded  on  every  side,  even 

105 


io6  DON  DIEGO 

from  the  housetops.  Instantly  the  Taos,  aided  by  the 
Picuries  and  Tehuas,  began  the  horrible  massacre.  They 
dragged  the  people  from  their  beds.  They  struck  down 
the  father  with  their  flint-studded  war-club,  while 
he  was  trying  to  defend  his  family.  The  infant  was 
pounded  into  a  shapeless  mass  in  sight  of  the  begging, 
helpless  mother ;  or  was  cut  to  pieces  in  her  arms.  The 
mother  was  tortured  to  death.  There  was  no  mercy  in 
the  heart  of  the  Indian.  With  him  it  was  bottled  up 
revenge  suddenly  released. 

Throughout  that  day  and  for  days  and  days  the 
atrocities  went  on.  As  the  uprising  gained  they  became 
the  more  diabolical. 

The  three  priests  and  five  Spanish  attendants  at  Santo 
Domingo  were  dragged  by  the  hair  of  the  head  com 
pletely  around  the  church  several  times  before  they  were 
put  to  death.  The  priests  at  Perea  [Jemez  Hot  Springs, 
Church  of  San  Juan  de  los  Jemez]  were  paraded  around 
the  entire  village  dressed  in  the  attire  which  is  worn  at 
mass.  The  circle  of  the  village  and  plaza  being  made, 
women  came  out  of  their  houses  and  tormented  them 
while  they  were  compelled  to  say  the  Rosary.  Their 
tongues  were  then  cut  out.  Later  they  were  stoned  to 
death. 

At  Jemez  proper,  Pope's  messenger  did  not  arrive  till 
the  middle  of  the  forenoon  on  the  loth  of  August.  The 
village  was  perfectly  quiet.  Young  women  were  grind 
ing  meal  and  singing  happily  the  moments  away.  The 
matrons  were  baking  bread,  paperleaf  corn  bread  in 
their  baking  rooms,  and  sour-dough  bread  in  the  ovens 
in  the  plaza  and  on  the  house-roofs.  The  virgins  were 
in  the  cornfields  gathering  corn  pollen  in  little  flat  bas- 


DON  DIEGO  107 

kets,  made  for  the  purpose,  the  pollen  to  be  used  by  the 
caciques  in  prayer.  Old  men  were  irrigating  in  their 
fields.  The  boys  were  playing  "  kwits  "  in  the  plaza. 
The  medicine  men  and  priests  were  in  their  secret  apart 
ments  casting  corn,  sprinkling  pollen  and  sacred  meal 
and  praying  to  their  deities  for  their  aid  in  the  impend 
ing  conflict.  The  braves  were  placing  arrow  points  and 
flints  and  mixing  paints.  The  sky  was  clear  over  head. 
The  sun  was  scorching  hot.  The  usual  mid-forenoon 
calm  had  set  in.  Not  a  leaf  moved.  Storm  clouds, 
however,  stood  up  in  irregular  columns  above  Mt.  Pe- 
lado  and  adjacent  peaks;  while  distant,  reverberating 
thunder  and  an  occasional  red  streak  down  the  black 
bank  against  the  violet  blue,  indicated  that  the  afternoon 
would  be  breezy  in  the  valley. 

Suddenly  the  scene  changed  as  if  in  an  earthquake.  A 
runner,  nude  with  the  exception  of  a  breech  cloth  and 
with  body  daubed  in  war  paint,  came  from  the  north 
east  by  the  way  of  Vallecito  creek.  He  entered  the  open 
ing  in  the  pifion  shrubbery.  Around  the  bend  north 
of  the  village.  The  watchman  on  the  north  estufa  saw 
him  as  he  emerged  from  the  bushy  woods  —  saw  the  war 
paint.  The  drum  proclaimed  the  news.  In  one  minute, 
knives,  war-clubs,  and  Indian  hatchets  were  being  bran 
dished  in  the  plaza :  the  war  dance  was  on.  The  braves 
had  already  bedaubed  themselves  with  war  paint.  They 
shrieked,  hallooed,  danced  till  they  were  frenzied.  Then 
all  rushed  to  the  church,  where  the  devouted  padre  was 
in  prayer,  preparing  for  the  inevitable,  horrible  death 
which  he  knew  was  soon  to  come  to  him.  With  a  shriek, 
a  howl,  and  the  terrifying,  horrifying  war  whoop,  they 
rushed  into  the  sacred  edifice,  knocked  down  the  lighted 


io8  DON  DIEGO 

candles,  and  broke  the  sacred  image  in  pieces.  They 
then  seized  the  praying  father  by  the  hair  and  dragged 
him  without  the  building,  paraded  him  around  that  ed 
ifice  on  the  back  of  a  hog,  and  finally  beat  him  with 
sticks.  Tiring  of  this  sort  of  amusement,  they  made 
him  get  down  on  all  fours.  His  cruel  persecutors  then 
got  on  his  back  and  lashed  and  spurred  him  till  he  fell 
dead.  Then  having  destroyed  all  in  their  village,  they 
set  out  to  aid  their  Indian  neighbors  in  further  destruc 
tion  and  murder.  Only  two  people  took  no  part  in  the 
inhumane  acts  at  Jemez,  Geetlu  and  her  sister.  They  sat 
in  their  mother's  house  and  cried. 

Two  days  later  Pope's  messenger  arrived  at  Acoma. 
At  once  the  merciless  slaughter  began.  The  priests  of 
the  place  were  stripped,  tied  together  by  a  hair  rope, 
driven  through  the  streets  at  a  run  on  all  fours,  then 
killed  with  clubs  and  stones,  and  their  bodies  thrown  into 
a  cave. 

At  Zuni  and  Moqui,  daylight  of  the  morning  of  the 
1 3th  of  August  dawned,  the  original  day  set  for  the  up 
rising.  Pope's  messengers  had  not  reached  the  Indians ; 
neither  had  Governor  Otermin's  brought  orders  to  the 
wrhite  people.  All  was  as  originally  planned.  The  set 
tlements  and  missions  were  attacked  at  sunrise.  The 
priests  at  Zuiii  were  dragged  from  their  sleeping  rooms, 
stoned,  and  then  shot.  At  Moqui,  after  suffering  many 
indignities,  the  men  of  God  and  Mary  were  stoned  to 
death.  Then  their  bodies  were  hurled  from  the  walls  of 
the  mesa  to  the  plain  below. 

While  these  things  were  going  on  in  the  outlying  set 
tlements,  Santa  Fe,  itself,  was  in  the  throes  of  a  death 
struggle.  It  was  known  the  loth  in  that  city  that  the 


DON  DIEGO  109 

uprising  had  begun.  Towards  evening  it  was  also 
known  that  Indians,  warriors,  were  lurking  about  the 
place  in  the  bush  woods  and  in  the  neighboring  ravines 
and  behind  rocks  in  the  region  immediately  adjacent  to 
the  walls  of  the  city;  but  no  attempt  at  an  attack  was 
made.  Every  precaution  possible  was  made  for  the  pro 
tection  of  the  place.  Should  the  savages  capture  the 
place  it  was  torture  and  death  to  all.  Horses  were  kept 
in  readiness  to  take  their  riders  to  any  part  of  the  city 
that  might  be  attacked.  The  antiquated  cannon  and  the 
muskets  were  loaded,  the  powder  placed  in  the  pan,  a  small 
fire  was  kindled  for  each  group  of  defenders,  though 
obscured  from  view,  and  a  fuse  was  at  hand  for  the 
deadly  work  when  the  moment  arrived.  But  daylight 
of  the  morning  of  the  nth  came.  Yet  no  Indian  had 
attempted  to  scale  the  walls  or  shoot  an  arrow  over  it. 
As  the  sun  began  his  westward  journey  across  the  sky 
visible  to  the  Rio  Grande  country,  the  Pecos,  five  hun 
dred  strong,  were  seen  approaching  the  city.  They  were 
out  in  the  open,  dancing  and  brandishing  war  implements, 
and  the  medicine  men  were  continually  sprinkling  them 
with  sacred  meal  and  corn  pollen.  At  the  front  they  car 
ried  two  large  crosses,  one  red,  the  other  white.  Reach 
ing  a  safe  distance  from  the  city,  they  halted;  several 
of  the  leading  Indians,  carrying  the  two  crosses,  pro 
ceeded  to  the  city  walls,  while  the  remaining  portion 
continued  their  war  dancing.  Reaching  the  city  gate, 
the  "  envoys  "  told  the  Spaniards  that  the  red  cross  was 
war,  the  white  one,  peace.  That  they  could  have  which 
they  chose,  but  if  they  chose  the  white  one,  they  must 
leave  the  country;  the  Indians  assuring  them  that  if  they 
departed  from  the  region  they  would  not  be  molested.  In 


no  DON  DIEGO 

a  three  minute  conference,  Governor  Otermin  chose  the 
red  cross,  and  the  battle  was  begun.  Three  hours  later 
the  governor  would  have  accepted  the  white  cross,  if  he 
had  had  the  opportunity. 

With  the  terrifying  war  whoop  the  Indians  rushed  upon 
the  walls.  They  scaled  them.  They  killed  the  cannon 
eers  at  their  posts.  They  struck  the  gunsmen  down 
with  their  war-clubs.  The  Spaniards  rallied.  Back  and 
forth  over  the  wall  the  battle  raged.  All  day  they  fought. 
"  Per  Dios,  venga  paca,"  and  "  Hang "  resounded,  as 
the  participants  clashed  with  each  other.  As  night  be 
gan  to  approach,  it  became  evident  that  the  pale- faces 
were  the  victors.  The  armor,  the  horses,  the  walls,  and 
the  cannon  were  too  much  for  the  naked  savages.  Be 
fore  darkness  closed  over  the  land  they  were  utterly 
routed:  the  cross  had  triumphed  over  the  symbol  of  the 
sun.  But  worse  days  were  to  follow. 

The  Pecos  in  full  retreat  were  met  by  the  Taos,  Pic- 
uries,  and  Tehuas,  victorious  and  besmeared  with  the 
blood  of  their  many  butcheries.  A  conference  was 
called.  The  Pecos  insisted  that  it  was  useless  to  re 
new  the  assault,  as  the  terrible  guns  would  kill  them  all. 
Many  speeches  were  made.  A  vote  was  called  for,  but 
not  a  sound  was  uttered.  Two-thirds  of  the  attacking 
party  had  been  killed  and  many  of  the  remaining  braves 
were  more  or  less  wounded.  Was  the  cause  for  which 
they  were  fighting  lost?  With  fire  flashing  from  his 
eyes  Pope  arose,  threw  down  his  blanket,  and  at  once 
began  to  address  the  wavering  throng: 

"  Vile  men  are  these  strangers.  To-morrow  they  will 
raze  our  villages  to  the  ground,  burn  or  torture  our 
medicine  men  to  death,  and  kill  us,  our  women  and  our 


DON  DIEGO  in 

children,  or  make  worse  than  slaves  of  us  all.  Will  you 
not  in  the  name  of  our  villages  and  of  our  race,  will  you 
not  in  the  name  of  the  river  which  waters  our  land,  will 
you  not  in  the  name  of  the  mountains  and  hills  which 
close  in  our  horizon,  will  you  not  in  the  name  of  the  gods 
and  the  evil  snakes,  will  you  not  in  the  name  of  the  rain 
bow  in  the  east  and  the  one  in  the  west,  will  you  not 
in  the  name  of  the  bolt  and  the  flash  lightnings,  will  you 
not  in  the  name  of  the  sun- father  and  the  moon-mother, 
will  you  not  in  the  names  of  all  the  gods  of  our  fathers, 
will  you  not  strike  the  death  blow  while  the  snake  is  yet 
uncoiled  ?  Will  you-  not  kill  the  mountain  lion  while  he 
is  off  his  guard?  Will  you  not  —  ?  The  ashes  of  your 
fathers  speak  to  you  from  the  ground:  will  you  not 
march  against  these  hated,  cruel  men?  The  spirits  of 
the  dead  exhort  you!  Will  you  not  march  with  me  to 
victory  while  time  and  opportunity  is  given  you?  The 
Great  Pest-ya-sode  and  those  above  command  you:  will 
you  not  do  their  bidding?  Your  brother  shall  obey 
their  orders.  Shall  he  go  alone  ?  Shall  he  alone  of  all  this 
host  receive  the  blessings  of  the  gods?  Shall  he  alone 
of  all  this  host  have  the  privilege  of  enjoying  the  pleas 
ures  of  the  happy  hunting  ground,  the  beautiful  and 
pleasant  land,  where  there  are  no  fogs  and  storms,  where 
the  game  is  so  plentiful  that  it  is  killed  even  in  the  streets 
of  the  villages,  where  the  people  are  always  happy  and 
dancing,  where  the  player  is  always  the  winner  of  the 
game,  where  the  women  are  always  young  and  pretty, 
and  where  there  is  plenty  of  whiskey  [tiswin]  to  drink? 
Shall  your  brother  be  the  only  one  of  all  these  warriors 
present  to  enter  the  palace  of  the  sun  and  sit  in  the  pres 
ence  of  the  great  Pest-ya-sode  ?  " 


iia  DON  DIEGO 

"  The  gods  forbid,"  shouted  hundreds  of  voices. 

Under  cover  of  the  darkness  the  Indians  resumed  the 
assault.  With  renewed  determination,  they  scaled  the 
walls.  Again  the  naked  savages  fought  hand  to  hand 
with  men  clad  in  "  stone  clothes."  Again  the  rude  in 
struments  of  the  savage  clashed  with  the  two-edged 
sword.  Again  the  white  man's  powder  drove  the  na 
tives  from  the  works.  But  reenforced,  the  Indians 
charged  again  and  again.  Backward  and  forward  the 
tide  of  battle  wavered,  as  one  or  the  other  side  was  vic 
torious.  For  four  days  more  they  fought  on,  till  so 
many  of  the  assailants  were  killed  that  those  who  con 
tinued  the  attack  walked  over  the  walls  of  the  city  in 
many  places  on  the  dead  bodies  of  their  fallen  brothers. 
Though  defeated,  the  aborigines  were  unwilling  to  give 
up.  More  and  more  recruits  were  coming  in  from  the 
remote  villages  to  take  the  place  of  those  who  had  met 
death  in  battle. 

Night  of  the  fourth  day  came,  and  with  it,  a  gloom 
settled  down  both  over  the  city  and  the  Indian  camps. 
The  white  people  were  yet  victorious ;  but  how  long  could 
they  hold  out  ?  The  Indians  were  certain  of  victory :  the 
gods  had  declared  it.  The  pale-faces  who  could,  went 
to  mass;  the  Indians  went  through  various  ceremonies 
to  cause  the  gods  to  aid  them.  Thus  the  night  passed. 

Daylight  came,  and  the  battle  was  renewed  with 
greater  vigor  and  more  determination  on  each  side.  The 
Spaniards  brought  the  reserve  powder  and  balls  into  ac 
tion.  The  Indians  fought  under  a  new  leader,  the  Jemez 
war-captain,  Don  Diego.  He  massed  the  entire  Indian 
army  for  one  final  charge  on  the  place,  with  orders  for 
the  braves  to  capture  the  cannon  and  to  keep  possession 


DON  DIEGO  113 

of  the  respective  pieces  till  the  city  was  entirely  in  their 
hands  or  they  were  called  to  the  home  of  the  good  dead. 
Over  the  walls  they  charged.  They  silenced  every  can 
non.  They  captured  the  suburbs  of  the  city.  They 
stormed  the  church  and  convent,  captured  them,  and 
burned  them  to  the  ground,  killing  every  inmate  of  each. 
But  their  hand  was  stayed.  While  they  were  capturing 
the  church,  the  Spaniards  had,  also,  been  in  vigorous 
action.  They  had  recaptured  several  of  the  cannon  and 
now  turned  them  upon  the  exposed  savages  in  the  street. 
These  were  mowed  down  by  hundreds.  Yet  those  who 
survived  flinched  not.  Notwithstanding  every  effort  of 
the  Spaniards,  they  could  not  be  driven  beyond  the  walls. 
Night  only  put  an  end  to  the  horrible  carnage. 

For  three  days  then  each  party  rested,  each  holding  the 
ground  it  had  possession  of  at  the  end  of  the  six  days' 
continual  assault.  In  this  interval,  Don  Diego  went  to 
Jemez  for  more  braves.  Also  Governor  Otermin  made 
an  enumeration  of  the  white  people  still  left  to  defend 
the  banner  of  the  cross.  He  found  the  population  still 
living  to  be  about  one  thousand  souls,  those  able  to  bear 
arms  numbering  one  hundred  and  fifty. 

Daylight  [August  2Oth]  brought  a  complete  change  in 
operations.  After  enumerating  the  people,  it  became  evi 
dent  that  the  Indians  must  be  driven  from  the  city  at  all 
hazards:  it  was  also  known  in  the  city  that  Jemez  re- 
enforcements  were  likely  enroute.  If  the  place  was  cap 
tured  they  would  all  meet  death;  and,  if  die  they  must, 
they  would  sell  their  lives  dearly.  Bidding  their  wives 
and  children  adieu  and  being  blessed  by  the  priests,  they 
moved  into  action  at  dawn.  It  was  a  hand  to  hand 
struggle  for  hours.  The  suburbs  were  cleared.  The 


ii4  DON  DIEGO 

captured  cannons  freed  —  the  last  Indian  put  to  the 
sword  within  the  walls.  Then  the  big  gate  swung  open ; 
and  mounted  men  sallied  forth  and  dealt  death  on  every 
hand  among  the  fleeing  Indians.  Three  hundred  braves 
were  run  down  and  killed  and  forty-seven  captured  in 
this  sortie.  Those  captured  were  brought  back  to  the 
city  and  made  to  testify  as  to  who  had  caused  the  trouble : 
then  they  were  all  shot. 

Again  the  people  behind  the  walls  were  the  victors. 
But  it  had  been  costly.  Not  only  that,  but  it  was  learned 
from  the  captives  whom  they  shot  that  more  and  more 
Indians  were  coming  to  fight  against  the  place :  that  the 
Jemez  war-captain  had  two  thousand  braves  and  that 
they  would  be  there  in  two  suns.  Fifteen  hundred  were 
coming  from  Zia,  and  hundreds  from  the  other  villages. 
When  one  attacking  party  of  the  Indians  was  annihilated, 
there  would  be  another  ready  to  take  its  place.  But 
Otermin  had  no  reserves.  A  man  killed  on  the  fight 
ing  line  could  not  be  replaced.  Reinforcements  likely 
would  not  reach  them  before  January  or  February. 
They  could  not  hold  out  that  long;  for  to  that  time  they 
had  been  contending  with  only  a  fraction  of  the  whole 
Pueblo  country.  While  the  Indians  were  still  unrecov- 
ered  from  the  defeat,  the  governor  thought,  though 
hazardous  as  such  an  undertaking  would  be  with  the  coun 
try  in  possession  of  the  savage  hordes,  best  to  flee.  He 
called  a  council  of  war;  and  it  was  the  unanimous  opin 
ion  of  all  to  accept  the  governor's  proposals.  This  was 
midnight  after  the  sortie. 

The  next  morning  [August  2ist]  the  Spaniards  com 
menced  abandoning  the  place,  all  going,  leaving  every 
thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Indians.  The  mounted 


DON  DIEGO  115 

men  passed  out  of  the  gates  first,  then  the  foot  soldiers, 
then  the  women  and  children.  South  they  marched. 
Several  times  they  saw  Indians  in  war  paint;  and  once 
they  thought  that  an  attack  was  imminent:  they  learned 
afterwards  that  such-  had  been  planned;  but  was  pre 
vented  by  Don  Diego,  who  withdrew  his  braves  saying 
that  it  was  useless  to  shed  blood  when  nothing  would  be 
gained  by  it.  The  strangers  were  leaving  the  country: 
what  more  should  the  Indians  want. 

Unmolested,  the  refugees  journeyed.  On  the  way 
they  saw  the  mutilated  bodies  of  the  three  padres  at 
Santo  Domingo,  also  five  dead  Spaniards,  also  all  the 
ranchers  on  the  small  farms  throughout  the  whole  dis 
trict.  Reaching  San  Felipe  and  San  Dia  they  found 
that  the  settlers  had  timely  abandoned  them,  and  later 
the  places  had  been  sacked  and  burned.  On  the  27th, 
they  reached  Ysleta;  and  soon  afterwards,  they  passed 
on  southward  to  El  Paso,  leaving  the  whole  region  ab 
solutely  in  possession  of  the  savages.  But  the  worst  to 
the  Indians  was  yet  to  come. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

INDEED,  the  Indians  were  now  again  the  de  facto 
rulers  of  the  country,  and,  with  great  ceremonies  they 
celebrated  their  return  to  power. 

As  the  last  pale- faces  passed  out  of  sight  on  their 
southern  journey  from  Sante  Fe,  the  Indians  rushed  out 
of  their  hiding  places  among  the  pirion  and  red  cedar 
shrubbery  and  behind  rocks  and  in  ravines  and  entered 
the  opening  in  front  of  the  city.  There  they  crow-hopped, 
danced,  tossed  their  war  implements  heavenward  and 
caught  them  again  and  again,  sang  songs,  re-besmeared 
themselves  with  paint,  were  sprinkled  with  the  sacred 
dusts  and  prayed  over  by  the  sun-priests  and  medicine 
men.  Then  with  a  howl  and  a  continuous,  hideous 
whoop,  they  broke  into  a  run,  facing  the  goal  of  their 
labors.  Rolling,  tumbling,  leaping,  hallooing  with  wild 
delight,  they  entered  the  open  city  gate,  or  scrambled 
over  the  city  walls.  Once  within  the  city,  they  danced, 
crow-hopped  around  within  the  walls,  up  and  down  every 
street,  and  from  house  to  house,  within  the  houses  and 
on  the  roofs,  though  they  molested  nothing.  Then 
around  the  burning  convent  and  church  they  danced  the 
frenzied  war  dance  till  darkness  closed  over  the  land. 

As  the  evening  star  began  to  leave  his  watch  in  the 
western  heavens,  the  medicine  men  and  caciques  lined  the 
braves  up  in  two  columns  in  the  plaza  in  front  of  the 
governor's  abandoned  residence  and  began  to  sprinkle 

116 


DON  DIEGO  117 

them  with  the  sacred  dusts  and  to  pray  over  them.  This 
was  the  first  act  of  the  scene  of  purification.  For,  after 
having  engaged  in  battle,  a  Pueblo  must  pass  through 
a  period  of  purification  from  the  time  a  certain  star  or 
the  sun  is  at  a  given. point  in  the  heavens  till  it  reaches 
the  same  position  again,  or,  in  civilized  terms,  for  a 
period  of  twenty-four  hours,  before  he  can  have  com 
munication  with  those  who  have  not  been  thus  engaged, 
before  he  can  visit  his  family  or  converse  with  them. 

After  being  sprinkled  and  prayed  over  for  a  consider 
able  time,  the  warriors  lined  up  in  a  long  line  and  danced 
in  tip-toe  around  the  plaza  and  then  out  to  the  nearest 
stream  with  water  sufficient  for  bathing  purposes.  Into 
this  they  plunged  one  after  another,  crossed  to  the  op 
posite  bank,  breathed  a  minute,  then  dove  into  it  and 
recrossed  it  again.  Emerging  from  the  water  on  the 
bank  where  they  had  first  plunged  into  it,  they  were 
again  sprinkled  with  the  sacred  dust  and  prayed  over 
by  the  "  men  of  the  gods."  They  then  returned  to  the 
plaza,  ate  a  meal  of  what  they  could  find  to  prepare  for 
food  in  the  city,  then  stretched  themselves  on  the  ground 
under  the  trees  in  the  plaza,  and  were  soon  dreaming 
the  night  away.  The  medicine  men  and  a  chosen  few  of 
the  braves,  however,  did  not  retire,  but  continued  the 
exercises  of  purification. 

As  midnight  approached,  the  chief  medicine  men  en 
tered  the  plaza  and  kindled  small  fires  at  several  places. 
Around  each  of  these  they  set  seven  sticks  in  a  line  in 
each  of  the  cardinal  directions.  Over  these  they  sprink 
led  sacred  meal  and  prayed  for  a  considerable  time. 
Then  they  took  up  the  sticks,  and,  as  they  blew  on  them, 
they  put  them  in  the  fire  one  by  one,  saying :  "  We  thank 


n8  DON  DIEGO 

you,  our  gods,  that  our  enemies  have  been  destroyed,  as 
these  sticks  are  about  to  be  consumed  by  these  flames." 

When  the  stick-burning  was  completed,  seven  medi 
cine  men  went  from  the  plaza  toward  each  of  the  four 
points  of  the  compass.  Each  of  these  medicine  men  car 
ried  a  young  pine  tree  in  his  left  hand  and  a  bowl  of 
sacred  meal  in  his  right.  Each  pine  tree,  thus  carried, 
had  seven  feathers  suspended  from  it  to  the  breeze,  each 
tree  and  its  feathers  symbolizing  the  Pueblo  tribes. 
These  trees  their  bearers  planted  at  points  quite  distant 
from  the  city.  Then  over  them  they  scattered  the  sacred 
dust,  dedicating  them  to  the  moon-mother,  who  the 
Indian  believes  especially  protects  his  home,  his  village, 
and  aids  him  in  his  every  undertaking.  Completing  the 
consecration,  the  sprinklers  of  the  sacred  meal  turned  so 
as  to  face  the  moon  and  said :  "  As  the  little  pine  be 
comes  a  stately  tree,  O  mother,  may  our  race  be  a  pow 
erful  race  from  now  on  throughout  all  days  and  all 
nights." 

Throughout  the  following  hours  of  the  night,  men, 
dressed  in  deer  skin,  embroidered  in  symbolic  designs, 
raced  the  plaza  and  streets  at  a  coyote-gallop,  shaking 
shell  bells  and  gourd  rattles,  and  sprinkling  the  dust  of 
the  gods  toward  the  goddess  of  night. 

At  daylight  every  brave  bathed,  rinsed  out  his  stomach 
with  warm  water,  and  partook  of  the  ceremonial 
smoke. 

As  the  sun  again  rose  over  the  land,  poles  were  cut  and 
placed  in  the  ground  in  the  plaza,  with  tops  tied  together 
so  as  to  make  the  skeletons  of  sweat-houses.  Then  over 
these  were  placed  a  blanket  and  straw  covering  so  as  to 
make  them  practically  air-tight.  Then  as  fast  as  the 


DON  DIEGO  119 

braves  could  be  accommodated,  all,  three  or  four  at  a 
time,  went  into  the  respective  houses,  had  red  hot  rocks 
placed  in  the  center  of  each  house,  and  then  on  these  they 
poured  water  to  make  them  steam.  They  then  sat  in  the 
"  boiling "  room  with  every  opening  closed  till  they 
could  stand  the  strangling  steam  no  longer.  Then  they 
pushed  aside  the  blanket  door  and  plunged  themselves 
into  a  prepared  tank  of  cold  water,  which  had  been  made 
"  holy  "  to  the  Indian  deities  by  being  sprinkled  with 
the  sacred  meal  and  pollen  and  by  having  been  prayed 
over  by  the  caciques.  As  each  brave  emerged  from  this 
bath,  he  also  was  sprinkled  with  the  sacred  dust  and 
prayed  over  by  the  religious  order. 

The  sweat  bath  purification  being  completed,  a  soap 
suds  bath  was  prepared  for  the  same  end,  that  of  purifi 
cation.  A  great  quantity  of  the  roots  of  the  soap-weed 
plant,  a  relative  of  the  "  Century  Plant,"  were  gathered 
and  pounded  up  with  stone  mallets  on  the  doorstep  of 
the  governor's  abandoned  quarters.  These,  thus 
mashed,  were  placed  in  warm  water  and  the  whole  made 
into  a  suds.  Each  and  every  brave  and  medicine  man 
bathed  himself  in  this  "  water  of  the  gods."  Then  he 
dried  himself  by  a  fire,  spread  out  his  long  hair  over  his 
arm  to  dry  in  the  afternoon  sun,  and,  when  dry,  he 
combed  it  and  did  it  up  in  a  cue  according  to  the  Indian 
custom.  Then  were  all  sprinkled  with  the  sacred  dusts 
and  prayed  over  again. 

This  last  act  completed  the  ceremonies  of  purification ; 
and  the  women,  old  men,  and  children  of  the  near-by 
tribes  who  had  gathered  without  the  city  were  allowed  to 
enter  it  and  feast  their  heroes;  for  they  had  brought 
with  them  great  quantities  of  every  eatable  known  to  the 


120  DON  DIEGO 

Pueblo  race.  And  from  that  on,  all  took  part  in  the 
feasting  and  ceremonies. 

Hardly  had  the  sun  hid  his  face  below  the  horizon  an 
hour  when  another  set  of  scenes  were  ushered  in.  Two 
men,  carrying  parallelopiped-shaped  drums  made  of 
cornhusks,  entered  the  plaza.  Seating  themselves  on  the 
opposite  sides  on  the  public  social  ground  of  the  late 
Spaniards,  now  the  public  dancing  area  of  the 
aborigines,  so  as  to  face  each  other,  they  began  to  beat 
their  curious  looking  musical  instruments  with  drum 
sticks  that  resembled  potato  mashers,  except  that  they 
were  much  larger.  Scarcely  had  they  seated  themselves, 
when  the  medicine  men  and  sun-priests  gathered  around 
them  and  began  to  chant  and  gesticulate  to  the  earth 
and  the  four  semi-cardinal  points,  the  animals  and  the 
other  sacred  things  of  earth,  and,  also,  to  those  above. 
This  chanting  was  only  just  beginning,  when  men, 
dressed  in  the  skins  of  animals  or  of  birds,  all  wearing 
masks  as  near  as  possible  in  the  natural  shape  of  the 
head  of  the  animal  or  bird  they  represented,  in  imitation, 
came  cantering,  galloping,  crawling,  or  flying  from  an 
improvised  dressing  room  and  commenced  performing 
according  to  their  kind. 

The  buffalo  pawed  and  bellowed.  The  rabbit  and 
deer  leaped  from  place  to  place.  The  turtle  proceeded 
slowly  to  move  about.  The  turkey  gobbled  and  strut 
ted.  The  coyote  howled,  the  bear  growled.  Followed 
by  the  musicians,  these  odd  performers  gradually  moved 
across  the  plaza  till  the  whole  public  space  was  danced 
over.  The  chief  sun-priest  sprinkled  the  participants 
with  sacred  meal.  The  actors  disappeared  in  the  sur 
rounding  darkness.  A  new  set  then  formed  and  the 


DON  DIEGO  121 

extravagant  actions  and  strange  ejaculations  were  gone 
over  again.  This  performing  was  continued  till  the 
morning  star  began  to  look  down  into  the  Rio  Grande 
valley  on  his  western  journey.  The  medicine  men  then 
sprinkled  all  with  sacred  meal,  while  the  chief  sun-priest 
prayed : 

"O  bear,  O  wolf,  O  coyote,  O  buffalo,  O  deer,  O  moun 
tain  lion,  O  wild  cat,  O  rabbit,  O  turkey,  O  eagle,  we 
thank  you  for  having  been  on  our  side  in  this  conflict 
with  the  white  men !  We  invoke  you  to  continue  to  aid 
us  in  any  time  of  need,  to  fight  for  us !  We  in  deed  and 
in  truth  thank  you  for  your  having  aided  us !  " 

Daylight  found  the  preparations  for  another  series  of 
ceremonies  in  progress.  At  sun  up,  the  "Ahoo,  ahoo, 
ahoo,"  of  the  sun-clowns  proclaimed  the  masked  ghost- 
dance.  For  four  days  and  four  nights  the  masked  plaza 
dancers  tripped  or  stamped  and  the  clowns  cut  capers, 
made  grimaces,  jested,  and  mimicked.  For  four  days 
and  four  nights,  the  medicine  men  prayed,  drummed, 
chanted,  and  sprinkled  the  dust  of  the  sacred  corn  to 
ward  the  abode  of  those  above.  At  sunrise  the  fifth 
morning  the  praying  of  all  the  medicine  men  closed  the 
dance. 

From  early  morning  till  darkness  closed  over  the  land 
again,  all  feasted,  rested,  and  had  a  much  needed  sleep. 
Then  the  preparations  for  another  dance  was  begun, 
preparations  for  a  dance  modeled  after  the  corn  dance 
of  the  Pueblo  tribes.  It,  too,  was  a  thank  offering  to 
the  gods  for  their  having  aided  the  Indians  in  expelling 
the  pale- faces  from  the  country  and  restoring  the  former 
to  their  rightful  possessions. 

At  dusk,  every  man,  woman,  and  child  that  could  walk 


122  DON  DIEGO 

prepared  prayer  sticks,  feathered  them  and  then  set  out 
in  a  long  drawn-out  procession  in  Indian  file  to  the  west 
wall  of  the  city,  on  which  they  climbed.  Here  they 
tossed  the  prayer  sticks  out  from  the  wall  without  the 
city  toward  the  silvery  moon.  After  the  sticks  they  cast 
the  dusts  of  the  gods,  as  a  thank  offering  to  those  above. 
Then  they  marched  back  to  the  plaza  in  the  same  man 
ner  as  they  had  come. 

Arriving  at  the  plaza,  some  of  the  men  commenced 
digging  holes  near  the  fountain  with  sharpened  sticks, 
pieces  of  pottery,  and  obsidian  knives;  some  cut  down 
pine  trees  in  the  region  adjacent  to  the  city  and  dragged 
the  same  to  the  plaza;  others,  under  the  direct  guidance 
of  the  medicine  men,  began  to  peel  a  long  pole  and  painted 
it  like  a  barber  pole,  except  that  it  was  many  times 
higher.  When  painted  they  put  a  cross  on  it,  not  a  Chris 
tian  cross  but  a  cross  somewhat  resembling  our  printed 
capital  Z.  Beneath  this  they  also  placed  a  carved-wood 
"  swastica,"  the  symbol  of  the  four  winds  and  the  good 
that  these  winds  bring.  Over  both  the  "  swastica  "  and 
the  cross  they  then  suspended  large  wreaths  of  corn 
leaves  interwoven  with  pinon  twigs.  Meanwhile,  the 
men  in  the  plaza  set  the  trees  in  the  ground  so  as  to 
make  a  crescent-shaped  grove,  with  open  space  to  the 
north.  On  the  trees  thus  placed,  were  profusely  hung 
strips  of  cloth  of  various  colors,  eagle  feathers,  snake 
skins,  stuffed  birds,  claws  of  the  bear  and  mountain 
lion,  coyote  hides,  buffalo  horns,  deer  antlers,  packages 
of  eagle  down,  and  medicine  bags  filled  with  pollen  and 
sacred  meal  —  all  thank  offerings  to  those  above.  This 
completed  the  night  scenes. 

At  sunrise  the  populace  gathered  around  the  painted 


DON  DIEGO  123 

pole,  and  with  a  great  shout  raised  it  to  a  vertical  posi 
tion.  Then  before  it,  that  is,  between  it  and  the  plaza, 
the  dancers,  two  men  alternating  with  three  women, 
lined  up  abreast  facing  the  prepared  grove.  The  women 
were  dressed  in  black  "  manta,"  richly  embroidered  in 
shining  stones  and  shells.  The  men  wore  coats  of  buck 
skin  and  leggings  and  moccasins  of  the  same  material, 
beautifully  fringed  and  embroidered  in  porcupine  quills 
and  snail  shells.  They  also  wore  an  outer  mantle  of 
buffalo  hide.  The  women  were  bare-headed;  the  head 
dresses  of  the  men  were  deer  skins  and  the  feathers  of 
the  war  eagle.  To  finish  off  the  singularly  rich  and  elab 
orate  head-dresses,  there  was  added  a  pair  of  buffalo 
horns  of  full  size  and  weight  and  arranged  as  they  grew 
upon  the  animal.  And  to  give  the  whole  dancing  suit  a 
more  striking  appearance,  each  dancer  had  suspended 
at  his  back  from  the  crown  of  his  head  to  his  ankles  a 
line  of  war  eagle  feathers  so  arranged  on  a  buckskin 
cord  that  they  were  kept  in  a  horizontal  position. 

The  drum  sounded.  The  dancers  danced  slowly 
abreast  to  the  public  square.  Behind  them  the  pole  was 
laboriously  carried  to  the  now  general  dancing  plot. 
There  it  was  set  in  the  ground  just  west  of  the  artificial 
grove.  The  dancers  then  retired  to  the  improvised 
dressing-room,  as  the  medicine  men  prayed  and  sprink 
led  the  sacred  pollen  to  the  breeze. 

Soon  the  five  dancers  re-appeared  and  formed  a  colr 
umn  abreast  inside  the  crescent  arch  with  their  faces 
turned  toward  the  north.  The  musicians  came  next: 
two  chanters,  two  drummers,  and  two  flute  players,  the 
flutes  being  rude  pipe  instruments  made  from  the  elder 
tree.  Following  these  came  the  assembled  squaws. 


i24  DON  DIEGO 

They  were  gaudily  painted  and  dressed.  Sparkling  ear 
pendants  dangled  from  their  ears,  and  ring  upon  ring 
of  shell  beads  encircled  their  necks  and  reached  almost 
to  their  waists  in  front.  These  squaws  formed  in  line 
to  dance  in  a  great  circle,  having  the  striped  pole,  the 
grove,  and  the  musicians  as  its  center.  In  dancing  they 
tripped  sidewise  to  the  right,  moving  about  four  inches 
at  a  step;  while,  as  a  counter  movement,  they  moved 
their  hands,  first  to  the  left  and  then  to  the  right,  to  the 
time  of  the  music.  In  these  waving  hands  they  gripped 
ears  of  corn,  pinon,  and  red  cedar  twigs.  The  moving 
around  the  entire  circle  by  each  participant  completed  a 
dancing  set. 

The  women  of  the  five-special-dancing-set  danced 
lightly  five  steps  in  succession  as  they  alternately  waved 
the  ears  of  corn  and  twigs  in  their  hands.  The  men 
of  this  group  vigorously  stamped  and  shook  the  gourd 
rattles  in  their  left  hands  and  waved  the  bunches  of 
pinon  twigs  in  their  right  hands.  Then  all  wheeled 
about  so  as  to  face  the  West.  Five  more  steps  were 
stepped  briskly.  A  whirl  to  the  South  was  then  made. 
This  time  the  dancers  raised  their  hands  alternately 
above  their  heads  in  a  vigorous  thrust  as  they  danced. 
Wheeling  so  as  to  face  the  East,  both  hands  were  el 
evated  above  the  head,  and  five  steps  were  emphatically 
stamped  by  both  men  and  women.  Turning  on  their 
heels  so  as  to  face  the  North,  they  began  to  dance  as  at 
first.  Thus  they  continued  to  perform  throughout  the 
whole  set  and  from  set  to  set  till  the  ceremonies  were 
brought  to  their  consummation. 

While  the  dance  was  thus  progressing,  the  medicine 
fraternity  ceased  not  to  sprinkle  all  those  who  were  tak- 


DON  DIEGO  125 

ing  part  in  it  with  the  corn  pollen  medicine  and  to  pray 
to  the  gods. 

At  the  close  of  the  set  the  actors  retired  to  the  dress 
ing-room,  and  another  set  of  performers,  after  they  had 
been  sprinkled  by  the  sacred  dusts  in  the  presence  of 
the  sun  in  the  vault  above,  came  from  the  dressing-room, 
similarly  costumed,  to  take  their  places. 

Just  as  the  first  set  was  breaking  up,  the  "  funny  men  " 
came  tumbling,  rolling,  jumping,  leaping,  hallooing, 
shrieking,  whooping  into  the  plaza.  One  of  them  was 
attired  in  a  Mexican  woman's  dress.  Another  had  on  a 
silk  hat  which  the  Spanish  governor,  in  his  haste,  had 
neglected  to  take  with  him.  Another  had  on  a  pair  of 
Spanish  silk  pantaloons.  Several  more  were  lapping 
plates  and  bowls  from  the  abandoned  executive  mansion, 
as  though  they  were  the  pet  cats  of  the  mansion.  An 
other  clown  came  running  with  the  governor's  official 
writing  desk,  another  with  the  official  chair.  Reaching 
the  grove,  the  desk  was  placed  near  and  to  the  eastward 
of  it;  the  chair  in  front  of  it.  Then  both  the  desk- 
carrier  and  the  bearer  of  the  chair  seated  themselves  on 
the  same  chair  and  began  to  make  crow-tracks  in  red 
ink  on  a  sheet  of  paper  which  they  had  found  in  the  resi 
dence,  both  giving  orders  to  supposed  servants  and  pages 
in  a  pompous  manner  at  the  same  time : 

"  Get  me  a  glass  of  wine.  This  quill  is  broken ;  go 
and  chase  the  old  gander  and  get  me  another  feather. 
Go  to  the  spring  and  get  another  water-jar  of  water, 
so  I  can  have  a  drink:  this  jar  of  water  has  been  here 
three  minutes.  Report  your  troubles  to  the  king:  I 
am  busy.  Build  me  a  fire,  you  dog.  Go  to  the  hills  and 
get  some  wood,  you  coyote.  Here  [tearing  off  a  frag- 


126  DON  DIEGO 

ment  of  paper],  here,  take  this  to  the  Jemez  padre,  you 
lazy-bones,  and  don't  let  the  sand  rest  under  your  feet. 
Here's  a  drink  to  good  old  Spain." 

Just  then  a  woman  was  heard  screaming.  It  was  a 
whipping  scene.  About  the  same  instant,  a  long  drawn- 
out  procession  of  the  same  "  funny  men  "  entered  the 
plaza.  At  the  head  of  the  procession  were  men  carrying 
the  bodies  of  the  few  Spaniards  whom  they  had  found 
unburied  in  the  city.  Back  of  these  came  men  flourish 
ing  the  scalps  of  the  dead  foes,  as  they  wavered,  stag 
gered,  stumbled,  hiccoughed  like  drunken  men.  Behind 
these  came  other  clown-actors  on  horses  and  mules.  Be 
hind  these  were  men  driving  a  few  hogs.  And  still  be 
hind  these  were  others  carrying  every  sort  of  house 
hold  furniture  that  could  be  found  in  the  city:  Here 
was  one  "  funny  man  "  with  a  costly  vase  for  a  hat. 
Another  was  brandishing  pewter  spoons,  knives,  and 
forks,  and  pretending  to  be  eating  with  them  at  the 
same  time.  Another  was  doing  the  juggler  act  —  pre 
tending  to  swallow  the  knives  and  forks  he  had  taken 
from  the  governor's  residence.  Another  had  the  gov 
ernor's  boots  on  and  was  stepping  high.  Another  was 
branishing  the  governor's  cane  and  waving  that  august 
person's  official  seal.  Another  came  running,  holding 
a  ham  in  both  hands  before  him  as  he  bit  great  chunks 
off  of  it  with  his  shining  white  teeth.  At  the  same  time, 
another  group  of  the  fraternity  was  acting  out  a  farce 
to  represent  the  immorality  of  the  Spanish-Americans. 

Suddenly  the  attention  of  all  was  attracted  to  an 
other  group  of  clown-actors,  a  procession,  headed  by  an 
Indian  dressed  in  the  full  regalia  of  a  priest  serving 
mass.  Immediately  following  the  priestly  attired  In- 


DON  DIEGO  127 

dian,  were  four  Indians  carrying  the  church  image  that 
had  been  saved  from  being  destroyed  when  the  church 
was  burned  and  was  later  found  by  the  aborigines  in 
one  of  the  abandoned  houses.  Following  these  were 
quite  a  procession  of  the  "  funny  fraternity,"  all  chant 
ing  in  mimicry  of  the  church  music  used  at  mass  and  on 
processional  feast  days.  As  they  advanced,  some  of  the 
fraternity  rushed  about  among  the  lookers-on,  seized 
their  robes  and  buffalo  skins  and  laid  them  down  for  the 
"  people  of  God  "  to  walk  over.  Another  group  rever 
ently  got  down  on  their  knees  and  went  to  counting  the 
shell  beads  and  pebbles  that  were  suspended  from  their 
necks.  Two  men  rang  sheep  bells  around  the  mock 
priest;  and  close  behind  him,  several  Indians  also  car 
ried  small  vases  filled  with  burning  tobacco.  Two 
"  funny  men,"  dressed  in  Mexican  women's  clothes  went 
to  a  mimic  confession  to  the  "  priest."  Another  mock 
Spanish  woman  of  rank  seized  a  prayer  book  out 
of  the  governor's  mansion  and,  running  to  the  plaza, 
squatted  herself  on  the  ground  in  front  of  the  procession 
and  began  to  read  in  mimicry,  with  book  inverted.  The 
mock  priest  seized  a  small  child  by  the  heels  and,  hold 
ing  it  clear  of  the  ground,  went  through  the  act  of 
christening  it.  At  this  instant  two  men  came  running 
from  opposite  directions.  The  one  had  a  chunk  of  rot 
ten  wood  in  his  hands;  the  other  had  a  piece  of  wood 
that  was  completely  honey-combed  with  worm  holes. 
"  See  here,"  they  both  shouted  at  once,  "  these  are  more 
powerful  than  God  and  Jesus  and  Santa  Maria.  God 
and  Jesus  and  Santa  Maria  are  dead  and  the  Span 
iards—" 

The  drum  sounded.     The  Spanish  accouterments  were 


i28  DON  DIEGO 

piled  within  the  circle  without  the  grove.  The  bodies 
of  the  fallen  foes  were  placed  under  the  artificial  trees, 
and  the  scalps  of  the  many  victims  were  hung  on  the 
limbs  of  the  trees  with  the  other  offerings  to  those  above. 
The  church  image  was  then  crushed  to  powder  and  sprin 
kled  over  all  and  the  residue  scattered  to  the  four  winds. 
The  clowns  then  retired  and  the  next  dancing  set  was 
formed. 

Thus  throughout  the  whole  day  dancing  scenes  alter 
nated  with  clown  performances  till  evening  claimed  the 
land.  Then  all  lined  in  double  column  with  columns  fac 
ing  each  other.  Between  the  lines  four  medicine  men 
marched  backward  and  forward  and  sprinkled  all  with 
the  sacred  meal  and  pollen  medicine.  At  the  same  time 
Pope  walked  backward  and  forward  between  the  lines  and 
addressed  them,  telling  them  what  had  been  accom 
plished,  eulogizing  their  gods,  decrying  the  Christian  God, 
and  explaining  his  plans  for  the  future  government  of 
the  Pueblos: 

"  Jesus  the  Son,  God  the  Father,  and  Mary  the 
Mother,  of  the  Spaniards  are  dead  and  only  the  gods  of 
the  Indians  live.  The  Spanish  gods  were  made  of  rot 
ten  wood  and  of  wormwood  and  were  powerless.  The 
Indian  gods,  the  evil  one,  so  the  Spaniards  declare,  had 
power  and  is  still  powerful.  The  followers  of  the  hated 
God  are  driven  from  our  land  and  we  are  the  rulers. 
Through  our  deities  we  are  supreme.  Our  gods  are  the 
rulers  of  heaven  and  earth.  No  one  ever  saw  the  God 
of  the  pale- faces :  we  see  our  gods  every  day.  The  sun- 
father  and  the  moon-mother  visit  our  country  every  pe 
riod  of  one  day  and  night  and  every  twenty-seven  days 
the  moon-mother  goes  to  the  end  of  the  earth  to  com- 


DON  DIEGO  129 

mune  with  her  husband  [at  new  moon]  about  what  is 
best  for  us,  their  children.  Our  gods  rule  all  things. 
We  their  offspring,  through  them,  are  rulers  of  this  land. 
As  we  fought  the  armored  foe  and  sprinkled  meal  and 
pollen  and  prayed,  our  elder  and  warrior  and  "  know 
ing  "  brother,  Pest-ya-sode,  came  on  the  dawning  light, 
on  the  red-tipped  wings  of  the  morning  in  the  flaming 
car  of  his  father,  the  sun.  He  came  to  aid  us.  From 
yonder  mountain  tops,  he  looked  down  into  this  valley. 
Our  medicine  men  saw  him  coming  to  help  us.  He 
spoke  to  me  in  a  strong  voice  that  filled  the  great  abyss 
and  echoed  and  reechoed  against  its  outermost  walls. 
The  enemy  saw  his  piercing  eye.  They  could  not  stand 
before  it.  They  were  discomforted.  They  fled  from 
his  presence  in  haste.  The  land  is  now  ours,  the  owners 
and  rightful  heirs.  Henceforth  the  will  of  the  gods  be 
done. 

"  Now  we  are  rid  of  this  detestable  race,  and  if  nec 
essary,  we  will  build  walls  up  to  the  skies  to  keep  them 
out  of  this  country.  Now  we  must  rid  our  fatherland 
of  their  loathsome  things  and  the  last  vestige  of  their 
abominable  religion.  From  now  on  only  native  crops 
are  to  be  raised.  The  Spanish  language  is  hereby  or 
dered  to  be  abolished.  All  accouterments  of  the  white 
people  whatsoever  that  may  be  found  in  your  houses 
or  villages  or  in  any  of  the  captured  places  must  be  de 
stroyed  at  once.  The  gods  do  not  look  well  upon  such 
things.  The  estufas  [kivas]  must  be  reopened  immedi 
ately.  The  old  regime  must  be  reestablished  in  its  en 
tirety.  All  baptismal  names  are  to  be  dropped.  Every 
one  is  to  leave  his  life  partner  given  him  in  marriage 
through  a  Christian  priest,  and  marry  whom  he  chooses 


130  DON  DIEGO 

and  as  many  as  he  chooses.  To  propitiate  the  deities, 
offerings  of  meal,  flour,  feathers,  the  seed  of  the  maguey 
plant,  corn,  corn  pollen,  and  tobacco  are  to  be  placed 
on  the  summit  of  every  hill  and  at  all  places  where 
there  is  petrified  wood  enough  to  make  an  altar.  Our 
visible  church  is  the  four  semi-cardinal  points,  the 
mother-earth,  and  the  eyes  and  faces  in  the  vault  above. 
To  cleanse  yourselves  of  the  curse  of  Christian  baptism, 
you  are  to  bathe  yourselves  in  a  neighboring  stream, 
either  here  or  at  the  place  where  you  live.  Then  you 
must  be  rebaptized  into  the  old  Indian  customs  in  a 
soap-weed  suds.  These  things  must  be  done  at  once. 

"  I  also  propose  that  the  Pueblos  form  a  centralized 
government,  for  the  purpose  of  being  prepared  to  make 
a  stand  against  our  savage  and  Christian  enemies.  This 
uprising  has  demonstrated  that  in  union  there  is  strength, 
and  we  should  profit  by  it.  I  place  the  question  before 
you  now:  Shall  we  have  a  centralized  government? 
Shall  we  have  one  general  head  to  govern  us  all,  and  who 
shall  be  the  first  governor?" 

He  had  hardly  stated  the  question,  when  all  present, 
in  a  clamorous  tone,  proclaimed  him  [Pope]  the  ruler 
of  all  the  Pueblo  tribes. 

Pope  then  thanked  them  all  for  their  having  chosen 
him,  and  requested  that  all  things  that  he  had  mentioned 
be  done  as  he  had  instructed.  He  then  lifted  his  hands 
in  blessing  over  his  visible  hearers,  then  toward  the  de 
clining  sun,  as  he  was  sprinkled  with  the  sacred  dusts 
and  prayed  over  by  all  the  members  of  the  medicine 
and  religious  fraternities  present.  He  was  then  pre 
sented  a  golden-headed  cane,  as  a  rod  of  authority. 
Thus  were  the  ceremonies  of  the  day  brought  to  their 


DON  DIEGO  131 

consummation;  and  the  iron-bands  of  a  new  kingdom 
welded  that  in  years  to  come  brought  misery,  sorrow, 
civil  wars,  and  death  to  the  very  ones  it  was  formed  to 
protect. 

Darkness  closed  over  the  land  again.  The  drum 
sounded.  The  instructions  of  the  new  ruler  were  at 
once  begun  to  be  carried  out.  Painted,  shrieking,  shout 
ing,  whooping,  the  braves  lined  up  in  two  columns,  fac 
ing  each  other.  Then  between  the  lines  two  white  cap 
tives  were  compelled  to  run  the  gauntlet,  goaded  on  by 
being  prodded  with  knives,  spears,  and  by  being  whipped 
and  clubbed.  As  they  thus  ran,  arrows  were  shot 
through  and  through  the  fleshy  parts  of  their  bodies. 
Their  ears  were  shot  off.  Their  noses  were  shot  away. 
Their  flesh  was  chipped  off  of  them  with  knives  and 
tomahawks  as  they  ran.  Both  tried  time  and  again  to 
escape  but  could  not  get  through  the  solid  lines.  On 
they  were  goaded,  till,  on  account  of  the  loss  of  blood, 
they  fell.  Then  they  were  taken  to  the  grove  and  tied, 
each  to  a  substantial  artificial  tree.  Then  added  to  this 
group,  a  woman  with  a  babe  in  her  arms  was  tied  to  an 
intermediate  tree  so  that  the  woman  had  a  man  on 
the  right  of  her  and  one  on  the  left.  All  were  firmly 
tied.  Then  around  them  were  piled  all  of  the  things 
that  the  "  funny  men  "  of  the  daytime  ceremonies  had 
carried  to  the  plaza.  Also  the  hogs  and  the  horses  that 
had  been  paraded  with  were  killed  and  piled  on  the  fu 
nereal  pyre.  The  heads  and  upper  parts  of  the  white 
victims  were  left  exposed,  that  is,  the  rubbish  was  piled 
only  to  their  waists. 

When  all  was  in  readiness,  "  the  things  of  the  people 
of  God  and  Mary "  were  ignited.  Then  as  the  fire 


i32  DON  DIEGO 

slowly  burned  to  the  martyrs,  "  the  mother,  the  son,  and 
the  two  thieves,"  the  archers  used  them  as  practice  tar 
gets.  An  arrow  grazed  one  of  the  men's  chin.  Another 
cut  the  hair  off  of  the  other  man's  scalp  at  his  crown. 
The  woman's  right  arm  was  pinned  to  the  tree  with  a 
barbed  point.  The  babe  had  a  foot  shot  away,  then  a 
hand.  The  mother  was  heard  crying.  The  strangling 
smoke  caused  one  of  the  much  suffering  men  to  expire. 
An  arrow  cut  the  jugular  vein  of  the  other,  and  he  soon 
scorched  and  bled  to  death.  An  arrow  cut  off  the 
woman's  thumb.  Another  cut  through  both  of  the 
child's  legs  and  the  woman's  side  and  stuck  into  the 
tree.  The  fire  was  now  burning  the  woman's  feet  and 
singing  her  hair  and  eyebrows.  An  arrow  cut  through 
her  left  wrist;  another  passed  through  her  left  side. 
She  was  heard  to  scream.  She  was  enveloped  in  smoke 
and  obscured  from  view  for  a  moment.  She  became 
visible  again.  An  arrow  passed  through  both  her  heart 
and  the  child's  heart,  and  both  went  to  the  land  of  the 
blessed  dead.  [Don  Diego  had  sent  the  arrow  to  put 
them  out  of  their  misery  and  to  save  them  from  further 
torture!] 

The  victims  being  dead,  the  circular  ghost  dance  was 
inaugurated.  Forming  a  great  circle  with  the  burning 
heap  as  the  center  the  dance  began  with  the  movement 
around  the  circle  to  the  right,  all  facing  the  direction  of 
movement.  Thus  all  danced  the  frenzied  ghost  dance, 
self -hypnotized  themselves,  trembled,  body-quivered, 
briskly  stepped  high  and  hard,  shrieked,  whooped,  till 
the  surrounding  hills  gave  back  the  fearful  sounds. 
Thus  they  continued  to  dance  till  daylight  claimed  the 
land  again.  All  plunged  into  the  nearest  stream  and 


DON  DIEGO  133 

bathed  themselves.  All  then  washed  in  the  soap-weed 
suds  preparation.  Thus  again  were  they  "  full  fledged  " 
children  of  the  moon-mother  and  the  sun- father  and 
brothers  of  the  great  Pest-ya-sode. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  Pueblo  kingdom  being  established,  Pope,  the 
ruler,  went  from  village  to  village,  scattering  corn 
meal  and  corn  pollen  upon  the  people,  as  emblems  of 
happiness  and  tokens  of  his  blessing.  He  proceeded,  at 
each  place  he  visited,  to  destroy  the  Christian  relics. 
This  was  attended  by  noisy  demonstrations,  processions, 
dances,  offerings  to  Indian  deities,  and  every  conceiv 
able  profanation  of  all  that  the  missionaries  had  con 
sidered  sacred.  But  even  from  an  Indian  point  of  view, 
his  rule,  from  the  start,  had  gall  mixed  with  the  sweets. 
Often  those  who  refused  to  obey  him  in  the  least  things 
were  put  to  death.  Moreover,  wherever  he  went,  the 
most  beautiful  women  were  taken  for  himself  and  cap 
tains;  forced  to  be  their  wives  whether  they  were  mar 
ried  to  other  men  or  not.  At  later  times  worse  things 
happened. 

While  on  this  tour,  Pope  visited  the  pueblo  of  Zia. 
The  Zias  at  that  time  were  a  populous  tribe.  They  had 
what  might  be  termed  a  continuous  village,  with  the 
Jemez  river  running  through  the  middle  of  it.  The 
part  on  the  southwest  bank  of  the  stream  was  bounded 
on  the  North  by  Salt  River,  a  confluence  of  the  former 
river,  entering  it  from  the  west.  The  ruins  of  the  vil 
lage  on  the  left  or  north  bank  have  been  entirely  removed 
by  erosion.  The  part  of  the  right  bank  is  covered  with 
shifting  sand :  only  the  part  of  a  fireplace  and  the  founda- 

134 


DON  DIEGO  135 

tion  of  the  wall  of  a  house  now  and  then  jotting  above 
the  sand  is  left  of  that  once  one  of  the  largest  of  the 
Pueblo  villages.  The  Zias  also  had  other  villages  here  and 
there,  at  the  "  big  bend  "  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  con 
fluence  of  the  two  streams  both  below  and  above  the 
main  village;  but  this  central  village  was  the  largest 
of  them  all  and  was  the  seat  of  government  for  the 
tribe.  On  the  whole,  it  occupied  a  very  picturesque  lo 
cation.  To  the  westward  for  many  miles  stretched  the 
alkali-salt-frosted  flood  plain  of  Salt  river,  with  its  nu 
merous  magnesium,  iron,  and  soda  springs  gushing  and 
sparkling,  to  the  west  of  which  were  valleys  suitable  for 
agricultural  purposes,  alternating  with  hills  of  green 
marl  and  white  gypsum.  To  the  northwest  were  red 
mesas  back  of  which  loomed  up  the  Jemez-Nacimiento, 
mountains.  To  the  northward,  the  Jemez  river  came 
through  the  broad,  farmland-orchard  region  of  the  Jemez 
tribe  from  the  highland  tufa-lava  country  of  Mt.  Pelado, 
and  brought  the  water  to  irrigate  their  lands.  To  the 
east  were  low  mesas  capped  with  lava,  through  which  the 
master  stream  of  the  section  cut  through  to  join  the 
Rio  Grande.  To  the  south  were  "  bad  land "  mesas 
and  castled  buttes,  banded  with  black  and  yellow.  While 
to  the  southwest,  was  the  gypsum-capped  Mesa  Blanca. 
In  the  valley,  orchards  and  crops  were  growing;  and  all 
was  in  a  flourishing  condition. 

It  was  to  this  central  village  where  the  Zia  governor 
lived  that  Pope  came  on  his  tour  up  the  Jemez  River 
from  the  Bernalillo-Ysleta-Rio  Grande  section.  As  he 
approached,  great  processions  lined  the  streets,  and  the 
house-tops  thronged  with  people,  all  gaily  dressed  in 
bright-colored  blankets  and  shawls,  all  wearing  bead- 


136  DON  DIEGO 

like  flashy  trinkets  suspended  on  multiple  buckskin  cords 
from  the  neck  over  the  chest.  While  the  virgins  and 
children  were  attired  as  were  Adam  and  Eve  on  the 
afternoon  of  their  creation. 

As  the  visitors  neared  the  place,  a  procession  went  out 
to  meet  them.  Meeting,  a  sham  battle  was  fought,  in 
which  the  Zias  surrounded  the  pretended  enemy  and  cap 
tured  them.  Then  all  turned  about  and  proceeded  to 
enter  the  city  of  the  Two  Rivers,  as  this  village  of  Zia 
was  called. 

Pope,  followed  by  his  select  escort,  numbering  about 
five  hundred  men,  headed  the  procession.  He  was 
dressed  in  the  full  costume  of  a  warrior-priest,  and  rode 
a  mule.  His  face  was  painted  vermilion.  He  wore  a 
bull's  horn,  fastened  on  his  head  at  the  front  just  above 
the  eyes,  with  point  of  horn  turning  skyward.  Thus 
attired,  he  rode  around  about  the  entire  place,  speech- 
making  to  the  populace,  ordering  them  to  obey  him, 
promising  health  and  good  crops  to  all  who  would  do 
his  bidding,  and  sprinkling  all  with  corn  meal  and  corn 
pollen,  as  emblems  of  happiness.  In  great  furore,  the 
populace  then  destroyed  the  church  and  convent.  Then 
all  sat  down  to  a  sumptuous  repast,  drinking  wine  from 
the  sacred  vessels. 

After  the  feast  came  the  dance,  as  nothing  with  an 
Indian  is  complete  without  it ;  with  it,  he  prays  and  gives 
thanks  to  his  gods  as  well  as  amuses  himself.  The  dance 
given  was  the  Tomahawk-Bow-and-Arrow  Dance. 

A  group  of  chanters  and  several  drummers  entered 
the  plaza  of  the  estufas  and  began  to  sing  and  lift  their 
hands  toward  the  heaven  as  in  supplication.  Soon  the 
dancers,  two  in  number,  a  man  and  a  woman,  descended 


DON  DIEGO  137 

the  ladder  of  the  sun-house  backwards.  Both  had  their 
faces,  arms,  and  all  exposed  parts  of  their  bodies 
painted  or  daubed  in  white  and  red.  The  woman,  a 
virgin,  let  her  hair  hang  loosely  over  her  shoulders. 
Her  dress  was  of  heavy,  black  cloth,  ornamented  in  shells 
and  sparkling  stones,  precious  to  the  Indian.  Her  feet 
were  bare.  From  her  neck  at  the  front  were  suspended 
many  strings  of  shell  and  turquoise  beads.  From  the 
top  of  her  head  to  the  bottom  of  her  dress  at  the  back 
she  wore  a  feathered  cord.  In  her  right  hand,  she  car 
ried  a  bow  and  some  arrows;  in  her  left,  a  tomahawk. 
The  man  also  had  his  hair  hanging  loosely  over  his  shoul 
ders.  In  addition,  he  had  it  bedecked  with  feathers. 
He  wore  a  coat,  leggings,  and  moccasins,  each  made  of 
buckskin  beautifully  fringed  and  painted  in  symbolic  de 
signs.  At  his  back  he  carried  a  quiver  filled  with  ar 
rows.  In  his  right  hand  he  gripped  a  bow;  in  his  left 
he  held  a  heavy  rawhide  shield,  on  the  front  of  which 
were  pasted  the  scalps  of  four  white  men  and  a  babe, 
so  that  the  hair  waved  to  the  breeze. 

Entering  the  plaza,  the  dancers  crow-hopped,  leaped, 
tripped,  or  danced  as  the  meaning  of  the  chant  de 
manded.  On  separate  lines  in  front  of  the  slowly  for 
ward-moving  musicians  and  the  populace  who  had  joined 
them,  they  danced  back  and  forth  the  full  width  of  the 
dancing  arena,  the  squaw  facing  and  dancing  in  one  di 
rection,  the  Indian  in  the  opposite.  As  they  thus  danced, 
the  half  of  the  time  that  they  faced  each  other,  the 
squaw,  in  mimicry,  shot  at  her  adversary  and  drew  her 
tomahawk  to  scalp  him.  At  the  same  time  her  approach 
ing  foe  defended  himself  with  his  shield  and  went 
through  motions  as  though  shooting  at  her  with  his  bow. 


138  DON  DIEGO 

Passing  each  other,  they  each  leaped  and  crow-hopped 
at  a  rapid  pace  to  the  turning  point  of  their  respective 
courses.  As  they  thus  danced,  the  squaw  lifted  the  toma 
hawk  and  the  bow  and  arrows  alternately  above  her 
head:  the  Indian  elevated  first  his  shield,  then  his  bow 
and  arrows  with  a  quick,  vigorous  thrust.  Reaching 
the  turning  points  in  their  respective  courses,  the  inner 
dancer  swung  around  the  outer  dancer  to  a  line  in  front. 
The  latter  then  wheeled  about  and  performed  in  the 
reverse  direction  over  the  line  he  had  just  performed 
over.  When  these  dancers  had  moved  in  a  sidewise 
movement  across  the  entire  plaza  from  one  end  of  it  to 
the  other,  they  retired,  and  a  new  set  took  their  places 
and  danced  the  very  same  dance  over  again  [nothing 
every  gets  monotonous  to  an  Indian].  In  this  manner, 
when  one  set  broke  up  another  took  its  place  till  night. 
Then  the  medicine  men  lined  the  people  up,  scattered 
sacred  meal  over  them  and  prayed : 

"  O  sun,  O  moon,  O  evening  star,  O  morning  star,  O 
all  the  stars  of  the  roof  above  us,  O  lightnings,  O  snakes 
of  the  clouds,  O  fields  and  water  courses,  O  fruits  of  the 
fields,  O  animals  of  the  forest,  O  god  of  war,  O  all  the 
gods  of  our  fathers,  we  thank  you  all  for  making  our 
bows  and  tomahawks  strong  against  our  enemies;  for 
making  the  medicine  on  our  shields  proof  against  the  mis 
siles  of  the  pale- faces.  Continue  to  make  us  strong! 
Always  give  us  courage!  Always  give  us  the  victory 
over  the  destroyers  of  our  homes  and  desecrators  of  our 
houses  of  worship!  Indeed  and  in  truth  we  thank  you 
for  all  things !  "  This  closed  the  ceremonies. 

The  next  morning  following  the  dance  at  Zia,  the 
whole  visiting  host  set  out  for  Jemez,  taking  with  them 


DON  DIEGO  139 

practically  all  the  pretty  women  and  girls,  mostly  as 
temporary  wives,  though  some  they  kept  permanently, 
no  difference  whether  they  were  other  men's  wives  or 
not,  objections  and  remonstrances  notwithstanding.  It 
was  Pope  and  Pope's  men  and  they  were  all  powerful. 
Two  men  were  put  to  death,  because  they  had  had  the 
audacity  to  speak  to  that  supreme  earthly  ruler  about 
such  trivial  things. 

Don  Diego  had  not  attended  the  ceremonies  at  San 
Felipe,  Santo  Domingo,  and  Santa  Anna,  but  had  re 
turned  to  his  wife  and  his  village.  He  advised  the  In 
dians  of  the  coming  of  the  visitors;  and  they  at  once 
began  to  prepare  for  the  great  event.  The  evening  of 
his  arrival,  thirteen  Indians  entered  the  south  estufa 
to  fast  and  pray  and  give  thanks  to  the  gods.  For 
four  days  they  prayed  in  that  house,  ate  not,  drank  not, 
prayed  to  the  deities  only.  The  fifth  day,  as  the  visitors 
were  arriving,  they  left  the  estufa,  and  bathed  themselves 
in  the  river,  their  work  having  been  completed.  As  soon 
as  they  returned  to  the  village,  there  followed  an  enter 
tainment-dance  in  the  plaza  till  the  mid-day  hour  for 
the  welcoming  of  the  honored  guests. 

In  this  dance  the  old  men  danced  around  the  drummer 
as  they  waved  their  hands  to  bring  out  the  meaning  of 
the  song  the  musicians  were  chanting.  The  dancers, 
a  man  and  a  woman,  were  gaudily  garbed.  Both  had 
their  hair  bedecked  with  the  long  feathers  of  the  eagle's 
tail.  The  man  carried  a  gourd  rattle  in  one  hand  a 
tomahawk  in  the  other;  the  woman,  a  tomahawk  in  her 
right  hand  and  a  bow  and  some  arrows  in  the  left.  In 
the  dancing,  they  commingled  with  the  musicians,  wind 
ing  backward  and  forward,  not  unlike  a  snake  in  his 


i4o  DON  DIEGO 

cravvlings,  as  they  advanced,  the  woman  in  the  lead. 
When  the  woman  reached  the  front,  the  bystanders  threw 
bread  and  various  other  things  into  the  air,  to  shower 
down  upon  the  performers.  The  scrambling  for  these 
things  was  wonderful  to  see.  When  the  residue  had 
been  trampled  in  the  ground  as  a  thank-offering  to  those 
above,  the  musicians  and  bystanders  formed  in  double 
column  and  the  dancers  danced  in  the  open  space  between 
the  files.  The  principal  performance  was  acted  by  the 
female  dancer.  She  danced  and  leaped  about  like  a  jack- 
rabbit,  lifting  first  the  bow  to  heaven  as  she  leaped  to 
the  left,  and  the  tomahawk  as  she  leaped  to  the  right. 
A  heavy  beat  of  the  drum  on  the  estufa  roof  brought 
this  dance  to  a  close. 

During  the  mid-day  hour  while  the  people  feasted, 
there  was  given  a  burro  dance  to  amuse  the  populace. 
A  man  pretending  to  be  riding  a  mock  burro  [a  Spanish 
donkey]  entered  the  plaza.  The  man  was  dressed  in 
bright-colored  clothes.  He  wore  a  sort  of  tapering 
dunce  cap,  from  which  floated  to  the  breeze  many  bright 
strips  of  cloth.  His  face  was  painted  black.  His  arms 
were  bare  and  painted  white,  with  red  zig-zag  lightning 
bolts  running  up  them.  He  wore  a  black  "  manta " 
dress,  as  though  he  were  a  woman.  His  body  was  placed 
through  a  wooden  frame,  the  frame  of  the  mock  burro. 
This  animal,  in  imitation,  was  a  fair  model  of  the  liv 
ing  beast,  only  a  shade  smaller;  the  animal  itself  is  small. 
The  burro  was  bridled  and  tasseled.  Its  body  was 
blanketed.  And  from  the  lower  edge  of  this  covering, 
a  fringe  suspended  nearly  to  the  ground  and  obscured 
the  movements  of  the  bearer's  lower  extremities.  A  pair 
of  stuffed  moccasins  and  pantaloons  extended  down  over 


DON  DIEGO  141 

the  frame,  one  on  each  side,  the  upper  parts  being  ob 
scured  beneath  the  loose  outer,  flashy-colored  robe  that 
the  rider  wore,  so  that  it  truly  looked  like  a  real  burro 
and  its  rider.  From  the  bridle  bit  on  either  side  a  strap 
extended  to  the  rider's  hand.  By  this  he  guided  the 
beast  and  caused  its  freak  movements. 

As  the  beast  and  the  rider  entered  the  plaza,  several 
Indians  came  out  of  a  dressing  room  and  accompanied 
it  from  place  to  place,  beating  some  old  Mexican  metallic 
pots  and  shouting  to  make  all  the  noise  possible.  As 
they  thus  proceeded,  the  mock  animal  would  canter,  gal 
lop,  balk,  rear,  buck.  Then  to  make  it  go,  the  "  keep 
ers  "  would  have  to  catch  it  and  lead  it.  These  it  would 
jerk  down  and  run  over,  now  and  then.  Then  it  would 
quiet  down  and  trot  along  quietly.  After  they  had  en 
circled  the  entire  plaza  in  the  antique  performing,  they 
then  caused  the  burro  to  prance  back  and  forth  in 
front  of  each  house  while  its  "  keepers  "  received  bread 
and  other  eatables  as  a  thank-offering  to  the  deities; 
these  eatables  to  be  given  to  the  guests  as  a  stranger's 
gift  for  food  on  their  further  journey.  Having  visited 
each  and  every  house,  the  burro  cantered  off  into 
obscurity,  and  it  and  its  "  keepers  "  were  seen  no  more. 

The  noon-day  feast  being  completed,  the  Buffalo  Dance 
was  ushered  in  to  further  entertain  the  visitors.  .  This 
dance  consisted  of  two  dancers,  a  man  and  a  woman, 
as  in  the  Bow-and- Arrow  Dance.  The  man  was  dressed 
in  a  buffalo  hide.  While  dancing,  he  held  a  bow  and 
some  arrows  in  his  right  hand  and  a  tomahawk  in  his 
left.  The  woman  was  dressed  in  gala  attire,  jeweled, 
beaded.  For  a  head  covering  she  wore  the  complete 
neck  and  head  skin  of  a  buffalo,  including  the  horns. 


142  DON  DIEGO 

The  dance  from  start  to  finish  was  a  peculiar  knee- 
springing,  foot-scraping  forward  and  then  backward 
movement.  It  lasted  till  the  close  of  day. 

As  the  dance  was  closing,  it  was  noticed  that  Ojeda 
was  not  among  the  group  of  chief  men  in  the  plaza. 
Don  Diego  noticed  his  absence,  and,  instantly  thought  of 
his  wife  and  of  Ojeda's  attempt  to  get  her  to  be  his  life 
partner.  He  started  toward  his  house.  As  he  neared 
it,  he  heard  a  scuffling,  muffled  noise.  Then  he  heard 
his  wife  scream.  He  rushed  into  the  house  and  found 
Ojeda  and  several  of  his  confederates  tying  his  wife's 
hands  and  feet.  "  O  Don  Diego,"  she  exclaimed  as  she 
saw  him  coming,  "  save  me !  "  In  furore  he  seized  an 
Indian  ax  and  struck  at  the  would-be  abductor  of  his 
wife,  but  the  force  of  the  blow  was  checked  by  himself 
being  hit  on  the  head  from  the  rear  by  one  of  the 
strange  Indians  accompanying  Ojeda.  When  he  gained 
consciousness  again,  it  was  far  into  the  next  day,  the 
guests  had  gone  and  his  wife  was  nowhere  to  be  found. 
Furthermore  he  could  learn  nothing  about  her  where 
abouts.  In  addition,  he  learned  that  to  pacify  the  Jemez, 
they  had  been  told  that  he  had  been  kicked  by  a  horse. 
He  was  furious,  but  powerless. 

The  visiting  strangers  wended  their  way  westward 
through  Salt  River  gap  and  by  Mt.  Cabezon  and  on  west 
ward  past  Mt.  Taylor,  with  the  rebellious  Geetlu  either 
tied  on  a  horse  or  compelled  to  walk  ahead  of  the  proces 
sion.  She  was  not  cruelly  treated,  only  that  Ojeda  had 
her  in  his  power  and  kept  her  where  he  could  watch  her 
every  move  and  prevent  her  escaping  him.  He  had  been 
promised  her  once  and  now  no  power  on  earth  could 
prevent  him  from  keeping  her  in  his  possession.  Thus 


DON  DIEGO  143 

journeying,  they  visited  La  Guna,  Acoma,  Zufii,  and, 
finally,  Moqui,  the  last  of  the  inhabited  pueblo  groups. 
Moqui  has  several  villages  even  in  our  own  time. 

The  Moquis  had  made  elaborate  preparations  for  their 
coming ;  and  when  they  had  entered  the  principal  village, 
all  was  in  readiness.  It  was  in  the  early  morning  when 
they  arrived.  The  first  ceremonies  were  begun  as  soon 
as  the  morning  meal  was  served  and  the  captive  woman 
was  put  in  a  safe  place.  The  medicine  men  took  all  the 
medical  accouterments  to  the  plaza  and  laid  them  in  a 
row  in  a  line  with  the  sun,  with  the  most  important  ones, 
according  to  the  Indian  notion,  heading  the  list,  then  the 
next  important,  and  so  on  till  the  long  row  was  com 
pleted.  Beginning  at  the  head  of  the  list,  they  were  ar 
ranged  as  follows :  idols,  bowls  of  corn  pollen  and  corn 
meal,  groups  of  eagle  feathers,  the  medicine  beads,  the 
skins  of  snakes  and  of  birds,  the  left  front  legs  of  the 
bear,  bunches  of  rabbit  wool,  the  head  coverings  of 
beasts,  and  the  scalps  of  human  beings.  When  the 
things  of  medicine  were  arranged,  the  men,  followed  by 
the  women,  passed  down  the  long  line  in  a  stooping  posi 
tion,  and  each  one,  having  blown  on  his  left  hand, 
stroked  the  curios  one  by  one  with  it,  as  he  sprinkled  the 
sacred  meal  over  them  at  the  same  time  with  his  right 
hand.  In  this  act  the  Indians  believed  that  the  strength, 
cunningness  and  health  powers  of  the  things  of  medicine 
they  had  thus  stroked  and  sprinkled  would  be  imparted 
to  them  and  they  would  therefore  be  more  fit  to  govern 
themselves. 

Soon  after  the  medicinal  things  were  taken  back  to  their 
places  of  safe  keeping,  the  antelope  priests,  or  snake  med 
icine  men,  began  the  next  and  last  ceremony  of  the  day. 


i44  DON  DIEGO 

It  was  the  Snake  Dance,  the  Pueblo  Indians'  elaborate 
way  of  praying  for  rain,  also  used  on  this  occasion  to 
amuse  and  entertain  the  strangers  and  to  carry  to  the 
deities  the  thanks  of  a  people,  grateful  because  the  pale- 
faced  enemies  had  been  driven  out  of  the  country  to 
the  region  of  the  big  boiling  waters  under  the  noon-day 
sun.  The  priests  went  to  a  place  where  the  Moqui  kept 
snakes  of  every  kind  to  be  found  in  the  region.  They 
fed  the  hundreds  of  caged  reptiles  till  they  would  eat 
no  more.  Then  after  they  had  sprinkled  them  with 
sacred  meal,  they  took  snake  canes,  having  feathers  sus 
pended  at  one  end,  and  with  these  they  rolled  the  snakes 
around,  waved  the  feathers  over  them  till  they  became 
bewildered  and  uncoiled  if  they  had  been  coiled.  They 
then  picked  them  up  one  by  one  with  their  bare  hands, 
put  them  into  large  earthen  jars,  covered  them  and 
then  carried  them  on  their  heads  to  the  snake  estufa 
\kvua\.  Entering  the  estufa  the  priests  placed  the  jars 
in  a  circle  around  the  central  post.  Then  around  them 
in  the  presence  of  the  idols,  the  grove,  and  the  symbolic 
paintings  of  the  house,  they  danced,  sprinkled  sacred 
dust,  and  prayed  till  the  coming  of  the  morning  star. 

Then  men,  dressed  only  in  breech-cloth  and  bearing 
no  weapons  whatsoever,  left  the  pueblo  one  after  another 
in  a  long  drawn-out  procession,  and  marched  with  maj 
estic  tread  to  a  leveled  spot  of  earth  at  a  considerable  dis 
tance  from  the  village,  but  still  on  top  of  the  mesa  on 
which  the  village  was  built.  Reaching  the  desired  spot, 
all  lined  up  abreast,  facing  the  village.  All  waited  the 
coming  of  the  sun.  Just  as  the  first  level  rays  of  light 
struck  over  the  eastern  horizon,  "  Hahng,"  shouted  the 
chief  priest  of  the  day,  and  the  snake  race  was  on.  In- 


DON  DIEGO  145 

stantly  the  competitors  were  running  like  deer  over  the 
parched  ground.  For  a  few  minutes  all  kept  pace  with 
each  other.  Then  four  or  five  began  to  lead  out.  Then 
two  of  these  made  gains  on  their  companions.  For  a 
considerable  distance  these  ran  side  by  side.  Then  one 
of  them  began  to  outstrip  the  other.  Nearer  and  nearer 
they  came.  Across  the  public  dancing  area  the  leader 
dashed  to  the  sun-house.  With  one  bound  he  leaped 
upon  the  roof,  a  tall,  muscular,  powerful  Indian,  with 
gleaming  eyes.  Amid  the  great  shouting  of  the  breath 
less  spectators,  the  chief  snake  priest  placed  a  wreath 
of  pifion  twigs  upon  his  head.  Triumphant  and  pant 
ing,  the  victor  left  the  roof  of  the  estufa. 

Immediately  following  the  race,  a  horrible,  blood 
curdling  ceremony  began  in  the  snake  estufa.  There 
some  of  the  priests,  dressed  in  fantastic  garments,  stood 
a  moment  over  the  jars  containing  the  slimy,  wriggling, 
crawling  snakes,  sprinkled  the  yellow  powder  to  the  four 
winds  that  control  the  semi-cardinal  positions  of  the 
earth,  and  muttered  half  audible  incantations.  Then, 
uttering  a  low,  rattling  noise,  they  took  the  reptiles  from 
the  jars  and  passed  them  to  six  other  snake  priests,  as 
we  would  hand  a  bunch  of  shoestrings  to  another  person. 
The  latter  priests  squatted  about  a  large  bowl  containing 
a  dark  red,  medically  prepared  liquid  in  which  the  snakes 
were  to  be  washed.  As  soon  as  the  passing  of  the 
snakes  began,  the  musicians  commenced  a  low,  humming 
chant,  the  roughly  handled  snakes  hissed  or  rattled,  the 
big  drum  measured  out  the  time,  and  the  squatting  priests 
beat  it  with  their  writhing  snakes.  This  humming,  rat 
tling,  hissing,  and  drum-beating  grew  gradually  louder 
and  wilder  and  more  barbaric  and  ferocious,  until  it 


146 


DON  DIEGO 


burst  into  a  fiendish  shrieking  and  howling.  Just  as  the 
excitement  had  reached  its  height,  the  squatting  priests 
grasped  the  snakes  by  their  necks,  thrust  them  into  the 
liquid,  drew  them  out  again,  and  dashed  them  furiously 
upon  a  sanded  circular  plot  called  the  snake  home. 
Around  this  "  snake-area  "  stood  three  other  priests  with 
snake  whips  to  prevent  the  hissing,  rattling,  infuriated 
reptiles  from  coiling  as  they  fell.  This  they  succeeded 
in  doing  by  a  process  of  rolling  the  snakes  about  in  the 
sand.  As  the  snake  bathing  progressed,  the  fanatical 
excitement  grew  more  and  more  intense.  The  low  mur 
muring  song  broke  into  wild,  hideous,  unearthly  shrieks. 
The  six  priests  grew  more  wild  and  fierce.  With  red 
stained  hands,  they  vigorously  dipped  snake  after  snake 
and  dashed  them  furiously  down  upon  the  sand  till  all 
the  snakes  were  washed. 


A  drawing  on  one  of  the  beams  in  the  estufa  at  Santa  Anna. 

The  snakes  were  then  put  back  into  the  jars  and  car 
ried  to  the  plaza.  Following  them  when  they  set  out 
danced  the  antelope  priests  with  measured  and  dignified 
steps  and  with  tragic  solemnity  of  manner.  Their  al- 


DON  DIEGO  147 

most  naked  bodies  were  streaked  with  white  paint;  their 
faces  were  streaked  with  white  paint  from  ear  to  ear 
across  their  mouths  and  chins.  Rattles  of  antelope  hoofs 
and  tortoise  shells  were  tied  to  their  knees.  Embroid 
ered  kilts  of  white  cotton  hung  about  their  loins.  Neck 
laces  of  shell  beads,  rabbit  paws,  antelope  hoofs,  rattles 
of  the  snake,  and  tortoise  shell  encircled  their  necks  and 
extended  nearly  to  the  waist  line  in  front;  fox  skins  and 
those  of  the  coyote  were  suspended  from  the  waist-belt 
at  the  back.  At  the  head  of  the  line  walked  the  chief 
antelope  priest,  bearing  the  ti-po-ni,  or  sacred  snake  sym 
bol,  across  his  left  arm.  Immediately  following  him 
came  the  bearer  of  the  sacred  medicine  bowl.  All  the 
other  representatives  of  the  order  carried  rattles  in  their 
hands,  with  which  they  kept  up  a  constant  noise  like  that 
produced  by  the  sacred  snakes.  With  stately  and  meas 
ured  steps,  they  danced  and  sprinkled  the  sacred  dust 
four  times  around  the  plaza.  Then  they  lined  up  to 
await  the  coming  of  the  snake  men,  whom  they  had 
passed  on  the  way.  Silently,  and  with  long,  swift  and 
majestic  steps,  the  latter  soon  came,  entered  the  inclosed 
space,  facing  the  antelope  priests. 

Thus  lined  up,  the  snake  men  presented  a  grewsome, 
diabolical  picture.  Their  bodies  were  nude,  but  painted 
in  white  splashes  on  both  shoulders,  down  the  back,  down 
in  front,  and,  in  addition,  were  daubed  here  and  there  in 
red  paint.  Their  chins  were  blackened,  and  outlined 
with  a  broad  white  stripe.  Their  breech-cloths  and  their 
moccasins  were  dyed  in  red  with  the  blood  of  the  mar 
tyred  priests.  From  their  ankles,  knees,  waists,  and 
necks  suspended  shell  beads,  stone  ornaments,  pieces  of 
sacred  wood  [wood  of  trees  that  had  been  struck  by 


148  DON  DIEGO 

lightning],  bird  skins,  snake  skins,  rattles  of  various 
sorts,  hideous-looking  objects.  Also  from  the  waist  be 
hind  was  a  coyote  hide  hung  nearly  to  the  ground.  In 
their  left  hands  they  carried  snake  whips,  each  com 
posed  of  two  sticks  to  which  large  feathers  were  attached, 
on  the  ends  of  which  smaller  feathers  were  tied  by  means 
of  a  buckskin  cord.  In  the  jars  on  their  heads  they  car 
ried  the  snakes  that  were  to  play  such  a  prominent  part 
in  the  coming  exercise. 

After  the  lining  up  of  the  snake  men,  for  a  moment 
there  was  silence.  Then  this  group,  now  formed  into 
two  lines,  began  a  low  chant  in  the  minor  key,  as  the 
chief  of  ceremonies  sprinkled  them  with  sacred  meal  and 
prayed  to  the  six  world  points :  the  southwest,  the  north 
west,  the  northeast,  the  southeast,  "  the  straight-up-above 
and  the  straight-down-below."  Then  the  water  propitia 
tion  was  likewise  sprinkled  on  them.  After  this  was  fin 
ished,  the  ti-po-ni  was  placed  on  a  low  stool  in  front  of  the 
line  between  it  and  the  line  of  antelope  priests.  All  the 
members  of  both  lines  of  priests  made  obeisance  before  it, 
as  they  prayed  to  the  gods  it  represented.  At  a  given 
signal  the  snake  priests  lifted  the  jars  from  their  heads 
and  poured  the  snakes  on  the  ground.  At  the  same  time 
a  deep  humming  of  the  artificial  rattles  began,  followed 
immediately  by  a  vigorous  chant.  The  chant  grew 
louder  and  louder.  The  two  lines  of  priests  swayed 
slowly  backwards  and  forwards  toward  each  other  like 
two  lines  of  writhing  snakes.  The  snake  whips  were  con 
stantly  waved  over  the  wriggling,  writhing,  rattling  rep 
tiles.  All  who  were  concerned  in  the  ceremony  spit  toward 
the  pile  of  snakes,  not  as  a  sign  of  disgust,  but  in  prayer. 
The  bearer  of  the  sacred  bowl,  the  master  of  ceremonies, 


DON  DIEGO  149 

strode  back  and  forth  and  sprinkled  the  sacred  meal 
toward  the  four  semi-cardinal  points.  The  snake-priest 
line  suddenly  broke  up  into  groups  of  three.  The  chant 
at  once  grew  louder  and  louder  and  of  wilder  refrain  and 
more  and  more  weirdly  fantastic.  The  dance  grew  more 
frantic  and  the  dancers  more  and  more  excited.  One 
man  in  each  of  the  groups  of  three  dropped  on  one  knee 
and  arose  with  a  squirming  snake  in  his  mouth,  which 
writhed  and  twisted  and  turned  and  wriggled  and  coiled 
its  shiny  folds  about  the  Indian's  cheek  and  chest. 
Around  the  leveled  area  four  times  he  then  danced  with 
his  snake,  as  another  priest  of  the  set  of  three  to  which 
he  belonged  waved  eagle  feathers  before  the  reptile  to 
prevent  it  from  sinking  its  fangs  into  its  bearer.  Reach 
ing  the  starting-place  the  fourth  time,  the  snake  was 
dropped  to  the  ground,  and  was  dexterously  picked  up 
by  the  third  member  of  the  trio.  Thus  were  the  reptiles 
gathered  up  and  danced  with  again  till  every  one  in  the 
collection  had  been  danced  four  times  around  the  circle 
in  the  mouth  of  a  "  carrier  "  of  each  group. 

As  the  snakes  were  being  danced  with  the  fourth  time 
in  this  horribly  revolting  yet  weirdly  fascinating  cere 
mony,  the  wailing  chant  rose  higher  and  higher,  accom 
panied  by  the  sibilant  rattles  of  the  antelope  priests ;  and 
the  excitement  of  the  dancers  rose  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
frenzy.  At  that  moment  the  chief  priest  of  the  cere 
monies  scattered  sacred  corn  pollen  in  a  circle  on  the 
ground.  Instantly  a  profound  silence  fell  over  all.  The 
snake  men  advanced  and  threw  down  their  snakes  within 
the  yellow  ring.  Then  at  a  given  signal,  with  a  howl 
the  whole  medicine  line  made  a  mad  rush  for  the  circle, 
and  each  Indian  seized  as  many  snakes  as  he  could  carry 


150  DON  DIEGO 

in  as  many  ways  as  possible.  Then  they  all  made  off 
with  them  in  every  direction  as  fast  as  they  could  go 
down  the  steep  and  precipitous  trails  from  the  mesa  vil 
lages  into  the  valley  below,  there  to  set  them  at  liberty 
to  carry  the  prayers  of  the  people  to  the  divinities. 

Just  as  the  snake  ceremonies  were  nearing  the  most  ex 
citing  stage,  a  Moqui  squaw,  with  disheveled  hair,  rushed 
among  the  visiting  guests  and  exclaimed :  "  Ojeda,  your 
lady  [Geetlu]  gone,  I  can  no  find  her." 

The  village  was  searched  for  her,  but  she  could  not  be 
found  anywhere.  Once,  without  the  village  they  thought 
they  found  her  tracks  leading  southward,  but  these  could 
be  followed  only  a  short  distance.  No  other  trace  could 
be  found.  For  three  days  after  his  colleagues  had  re 
turned  to  their  own  homes,  Ojeda  searched  the  country 
for  her.  Then  he  likewise  returned  to  his  village. 


CHAPTER  X 

MANY  days  elapsed  before  Don  Diego  was  re 
covered  from  the  blow  he  'had  received  on  his 
head  so  that  he  was  able  to  walk  about  his  premises.  But 
he  cared  not  so  much  for  the  bodily  injury  as  for  the  loss 
of  his  wife.  For  an  Indian,  he  grieved  about  her  very 
much.  Yet  when  the  "  principals  "  asked  him  about  mak 
ing  war  on  all  the  Santa  Annas,  as  is  the  custom  of  sav 
ages  to  make  war  on  a  whole  tribe  instead  of  punishing 
the  guilty  one  alone  as  among  civilized  people,  he  op 
posed  it,  saying  that  only  one  Santa  Anna  was  guilty  and 
why  make  war  on  the  whole  tribe ;  besides  war  was  a  bad 
thing  and  no  one  knew  where  it  would  end:  the  Jemez 
and  not  the  Santa  Annas  might  be  annihilated.  Later 
he  sent  a  deputation  to  Santa  Anna  to  see  Ojeda,  offer 
ing  to  buy  back  the  woman,  as  it  was  better  to  do  that 
than  to  have  war  and  kill  innocent  people,  he  thought. 

The  embassadors  were  gone  several  days.  Then  re 
turned  with  the  sad  news  that  no  one  knew  the  where 
abouts  of  Geetlu,  that  she  had  escaped  from  the  trium 
phal  party  while  at  Moqui,  and  it  was  generally  believed 
at  Santa  Anna  that  she  had  returned  to  Jemez  and  to 
her  husband. 

Don  Diego  believed  that  the  Santa  Annas  had  told 
an  untruth,  that  his  wife  was  there  and  was  kept  in  hid 
ing.  So  he  hired  some  Zia  and  some  Santo  Domingo 
Indians  to  watch  the  village  to  see  if  they  could  see  her 

151 


152  DON  DIEGO 

anywhere  thereabouts :  if  he  could  not  buy  her  back,  he 
would  get  her  by  stealth.  But  after  a  surveillance  of 
considerable  time  they  brought  back  word  that  they  be 
lieved  the  reported  escaping  of  Geetlu  to  be  true,  that 
without  doubt  she  was  not  at  Ojeda's  village  home. 
They  had  pretended  friendship  and  had  even  been  guests 
of  Ojeda  himself  at  his  own  home  for  many  days.  Yet 
the  abducted  woman  they  had  not  seen.  What  would 
Don  Diego  do?  He  loved  the  woman,  and  to  the  limit 
less  sea  he  would  go  in  search  of  her. 

One  day  in  autumn  that  year,  most  of  the  Jemez  men 
were  "  jerking  "  their  corn  and  piling  the  husk-covered 
ears  in  piles  on  the  ground  to  be  sorted.  A  great  many 
of  the  women  were  engaged  in  the  sorting  process.  The 
ripe  ears  were  husked  and  carried  in  baskets,  supported 
on  top  of  the  carriers'  heads,  to  the  estufa  roofs  to  be 
further  cured  in  the  sun.  The  green  corn,  unhusked, 
was  also  being  carried  in  baskets  to  the  village  there  to 
be  baked  in  the  ovens,  after  which  process  the  husks  were 
stripped  up  off  of  the  ear,  tied  together,  and  the  ear  hung 
up  on  a  pole  by  them  so  that  the  corn  would  dry:  after 
the  corn  was  dried  it  was  to  be  shelled  from  the  cob  and 
put  away  in  ollas  to  be  kept  for  future  use.  While  these 
things  were  being  done,  some  men  were  cutting  the  fod 
der  and  storing  it  on  the  roofs  of  their  corrals  to  feed 
to  their  sheep  and  horses  during  the  winter.  Other  men 
were  also  busy  carrying  melons,  squashes,  and  pumpkins 
to  their  store-rooms.  [For  with  a  Pueblo  Indian,  these 
are  always  gathered  and  put  away  for  winter  use, 
whether  green  or  ripe:  if  not  ripe  they  will  ripen;  and, 
furthermore,  a  Pueblo  will  eat  a  green  melon  as  quick 
as  a  ripe  one,  with  apparently  as  much  relish.  He  takes 


DON  DIEGO  153 

it  up  in  both  hands  and  eats  it  as  we  do  an  apple,  rind 
and  all;  or,  better,  more  like  a  monkey  would  eat  it.] 
As  the  pumpkins  were  thus  being  stored  away,  some 
women  were  also  busy  stringing  wristas  of  red  pep 
per  and  hanging  them  on  poles  in  front  of  the  houses  to 
dry.  Jack  Frost  had  visited  the  valley  the  night  before, 
and  now  everyone  was  busy  putting  their  winter  supply 
of  food  and  provender  away  before  it  spoiled  in  the  field. 
Everybody  was  thus  employed,  but  one. 

A  lone  Indian  went  to  the  estufa  of  his  clan ;  and  there 
sprinkled  sacred  meal  and  pollen  before  his  image-gods, 
the  sacred  altars,  and  the  symbolic  paintings  on  the  walls 
of  the  edifice,  as  he  invoked  the  aid  of  his  gods  in  his  be 
half.  Then  he  smoked  the  ceremonial  cigarette  and  blew 
the  smoke  toward  the  symbol  of  first  one  and  then  an 
other  of  the  principal  deities  of  his  people  till  the  cigar 
ette  was  burned  out.  Then  he  blew  a  breath  in  prayer 
toward  the  mother  god,  after  which  he  climbed  up  the 
ladder  onto  the  estufa  roof.  He  then  again  blew  a  gen 
tle  breath  in  prayer  toward  the  noon-day  sun.  He 
paused  a  moment  and  waved  his  right  hand  toward  each 
of  the  semi-cardinal  directions.  He  then  descended  to 
the  plaza,  walked  to  his  residence,  and  breathed  a  prayer 
to  the  yaya,  household  gods,  as  he  sprinkled  them 
with  the  sacred  dust.  He  then  left  the  village  and  passed 
down  the  trail  that  lead  to  the  river  and  the  farm  lands 
on  its  opposite  bank.  As  he  walked  briskly  along,  he 
came  to  a  pile  of  petrified  wood,  a  Jemez  altar.  He 
lifted  a  small  block  of  the  stone- wood  and  placed  a  feath 
ered  fetish  under  it,  two  small  sticks  clamped  together 
with  strong  cord,  from  the  ends  of  which  feathers  ex 
tended.  He  replaced  the  rock  and  lifted  another.  He 


154  DON  DIEGO 

took  the  fetish  sticks  from  beneath  this  rock  and  put 
them  in  the  medicine  bag  he  carried.  Then  he  sprin 
kled  the  altar  with  meal  and  passed  on  down  the  trail. 
Reaching  the  river,  he  blew  gently  over  it,  sprinkled  it 
with  the  dusts  of  the  gods,  then  waded  it  to  the  opposite 
bank  and  passed  on  westward.  He  trudged  through 
the  valley  lands  of  his  tribe  and  climbed  the  red  sand 
stone  [Jura-Trias]  mesas.  Over  these  he  descended  into 
a  little  flat,  covered  with  coal-measure  rock.  Here  he 
picked  up  some  petrified  sea  shells  of  that  far-off  age 
[Carboniferous  shells:  Productus  punctatus,  Spirifer 
species,  etal.].  Several  of  the  smaller  of  these  he  put 
in  his  medicine  bag  as  charm-fetishes.  He  then  jour 
neyed  on  westward  over  an  upthrust  of  granite,  then 
over  red  sandstone,  again  up  over  a  ridge,  through  Jack- 
Rabbit  valley  at  the  south  terminus  of  the  Jemez-Na- 
cimiento  Range.  Another  and  the  last  of  the  Jemez 
ridges  he  had  to  cross  was  scaled.  Reaching  its  summit, 
he  faced  about  and  there  he  stood  as  it  were  between 
earth  and  sky,  a  strong,  well-built,  muscular  Indian,  full 
six  feet  in  height,  with  broad  forehead,  rather  high  cheek 
bones,  a  prominent  nose  of  the  controlling  type,  firmly 
set  jaws,  large,  pleasing  black  eyes,  and  a  clear  coun 
tenance.  He  took  one  long  look  at  the  tiny  village  and 
the  river  of  his  country  in  the  distance,  made  an  altar 
of  small  stones,  sprinkled  it  with  sacred  dust,  sprinkled 
a  pinch  of  the  dust  toward  his  home,  breathed  a  prayer  to 
his  gods,  faced  about,  and  continued  his  journey. 

It  was  Don  Diego.  He  was  going  in  search  of  his 
wife.  The  village  of  Moqui  where  she  had  been  seen 
last  was  his  destination.  He  was  alone;  but  he  was  not 
afraid.  On  he  journeyed.  He  descended  the  steep  west- 


DON  DIEGO  155 

ern  talus  slope  of  the  foothill  range  and  out  over  a  white- 
capped  gypsum  mesa  onto  the  Rio  Puerco  table-land. 
At  the  edge  of  this  he  passed  over  upturned  strata  of 
coal,  fire  clay  and  sandstone.  Then  over  a  slag  rock 
where  the  coal  had  been  burned  out  during  a  volcanic  dis 
turbance  in  some  former  age  of  the  world.  Passing  over 
the  slag  he  came  to  horizontal  layers  of  the  yellowish- 
green  Puerco  formation.  As  it  had  rained  in  the  valley 
in  the  afternoon,  he  soon  found  it  to  be  as  slippery  as 
the  name  signifies  [Puerco  means  dirty,  slippery]  :  but 
he  trudged  on.  His  course  was  now  southwestward. 
The  sun  went  down,  but  he  continued  the  journey  till 
toward  midnight  he  reached  Mt.  Cabezon,  a  huge  mon 
olithic,  volcanic  core  that  stands  more  tfian  a  thousand 
feet  above  the  plain  and  has  an  area  of  about  thirteen 
acres  of  a  summit.  Near  it  Don  Diego  rested  for  the 
night. 

As  the  sun  began  his  westward  journey  again  over 
the  far  away  Sandia,  he  resumed  his  journey,  now  more 
to  the  westward.  As  the  days  went  on,  he  passed  Mt. 
San  Mateo,  flanked  by  the  awl-like  Alesna  from  near 
which  heads  the  Rio  Puerco  and  San  Jose's  creek  which 
empty  into  the  Rio  Grande  below  where  Albuquerque 
now  stands.  On  westward  he  continued  his  course,  now 
over  "  mal  pais,"  bad  country  lava  rock,  of  the  lava  flows 
of  Zuni  canyon ;  and  on  westward  by  the  vast  crater  of 
Aqua  Fria.  On  he  traveled.  A  little  way  from  the 
crater,  he  came  to  an  ice-cold  stream  of  water  which 
still  flows  from  beneath  the  black  lava  cap.  Being 
thirsty,  he  stooped  down  and  began  to  scoop  some  water 
into  his  mouth  with  his  right  hand,  using  it  as  a  cup- 
like  shovel:  by  such  a  cup  the  Jemez  throws  the  water 


156  DON  DIEGO 

into  his  mouth  somewhat  like  a  cat  laps  milk  out  of  a 
dish,  except  that  the  instrument  used  is  wholly  external 
and  not  attached  to  the  mouth  and  is  held  more  in  the 
shape  of  a  grocery  scoop.  As  he  thus  leaned  over  the 
little  clump  of  grass  that  margined  the  stream  to  get  his 
drink,  a  rattle  quickly  told  him  that  the  place  was  already 
occupied  and  that  no  trespassing  was  allowed.  As  quick 
as  the  bound  of  a  deer,  he  leaped  backward  and  pre 
vented  himself  from  being  struck  by  the  reptile.  But 
the  serpent  struck  not;  only  remained  coiled  and  kept 
up  a  constant  rattle.  Don  Diego  looked  at  it  a  moment. 
Then  he  took  out  his  medicine  bag  and  sprinkled  it  with 
sacred  meal,  prayed  over  it  a  minute,  and  passed  up  the 
small  brooklet  a  little  ways,  took  the  needed  drink,  pass 
ing  on  in  his  travels.  A  day  later  he  arrived  in  the  vicin 
ity  of  the  majestic  and  historic  El  Morro,  or  Inscription 
Rock,  and  the  Giant's  wonderful  pillar  of  erosion,  "  and 
the  most  stupendous  flying  buttress  in  the  world." 

As  he  was  wending  his  way  onward,  he  heard  human 
voices  in  the  distance.  He  knew  no  Pueblo  village  was 
near.  So  he  thought  it  best  to  conceal  himself  and  see 
from  a  secure  place  who  the  strangers  might  be.  And  it 
was  well  he  did;  for  it  proved  to  be  a  band  of  marauding 
Navajos  that  were  approaching.  He  had  hidden  himself 
in  a  niche  in  the  rock  front  of  El  Morro,  and  in  a  little 
amphitheater-arena  area  by  and  in  front  of  this  same 
buttress  the  Navajos  camped.  They  piled  up  some  brush 
and  soon  had  a  bright  blaze.  On  this  they  roasted  some 
yucca  pods,  broiled  some  venison,  also  baked  some  corn 
cakes  on  the  upper  side  of  a  flat  rock  over  the  fire.  Then 
all  squatted  down  on  the  ground,  some  thirty  or  more, 
and  partook  of  the  repast  set  before  them.  The  supper 


DON  DIEGO  157 

looked  inviting  to  Don  Diego,  who  had  not  had  a  bite 
all  day ;  but  he  dared  not  move  lest  he  be  seen  and  cap 
tured;  for  the  Navajos,  as  a  rule,  were  never  friendly 
to  the  Pueblos.  He  only  crawled  farther  back  into  the 
dark  recess  and  prayed  that  his  track  might  not  be  seen : 
a  Pueblo  moccasin  being  of  a  different  cut  from  that  of 
a  Navajo,  had  they  seen  the  track  they  would  have  known 
at  once  that  there  was  a  stranger  in  the  land.  He  also 
prayed  that  no  ray  of  light  from  the  fire  would  pene 
trate  the  chink  in  the  rock  where  he  lay  hid.  He 
started  to  crawl  farther  back  into  the  recess;  but  see 
ing  two  bright  balls  of  fire,  in  appearance,  in  the  dis 
tance  ahead  of  him  and  hearing  a  low  growl,  he  pro 
ceeded  no  further.  He  was  evidently  disturbing  some 
beast  in  his  den.  Snakes  were  also  heard  to  rattle  in 
some  distant  crevice  in  the  rock-wall.  He  moved  back 
a  few  feet  toward  the  entrance  and  there  almost  breath 
lessly  waited.  To  leave  the  place  was  death  or  a  hor 
rible  life;  to  stay  there  was,  possibly,  death  also.  For 
like  that  old  serpent,  the  Navajos  would  give  him  a  warm 
reception  if  he  fell  into  their  possession:  the  other 
alternative  need  not  be  commented  upon.  Fortunately, 
the  snakes  and  animals  quieted  down,  and  the  Navajos 
never  suspected  that  a  Pueblo  Indian  was  in  the  vicinity. 
As  the  hours  passed,  the  medicine  men  of  the  roving 
band  began  to  sing  and  beat  small  drums  and  sprinkle 
some  sort  of  powder  toward  the  Great  Dipper.  As  they 
sang,  other  members  of  the  party  joined  in  a  circular 
dance,  advancing  in  a  forward  movement  around  it  to 
the  left.  Thus  they  danced  and  enjoyed  themselves  till 
the  wee  hours  of  the  morning  were  approaching.  Then 
they  lay  around  the  fire  among  the  ancient  pueblo  ruins 


158  DON  DIEGO 

of  the  place  to  snatch  a  little  sleep.  This  would  have 
been  a  chance  for  the  lone  man  to  escape  but  for  the  fact 
that  the  sleepers  had  left  a  man  on  guard ;  so  he  patiently 
had  to  wait  the  slowly  dragging  time. 

Little  did  the  sleepers,  the  watchman,  or  the  lone 
sleepless  Indian  in  the  niche  know  that  where  they  were 
spending  the  night  would  be  an  historic  landmark  long 
after  they  had  turned  to  dust  and  were  forgotten.  There 
were  the  pueblo  ruins  left  for  a  Fewks  of  our  own  day 
to  explore;  but  they  were  not  much  different  than  the 
ruins  of  many  other  villages  of  the  region  which  super 
stition  or  savage  hordes  had  caused  to  be  abandoned. 
Ruins  they  were,  and  their  history  was  prehistoric  and 
would  never  be  known  further  than  a  patch-work  of 
imagination.  Besides  these  ruins,  however,  there  were 
things  there  that  were  and  are  of  historic  value.  On  the 
rock  face  which  loomed  up  in  the  fire-light  there  were 
some  peculiar  markings,  unnoticed  and  unintelligible  to 
those  immediately  concerned  in  the  story.  These  were 
chiselings  in  the  rock-face,  the  writings  of  civilized  man, 
the  accounts  of  historic  movements.  They  were  in  the 
Roman-Spanish  character.  Two  of  them,  translated, 
read  as  follows: 

[  i  ]  "  Passed  by  here  the  adelantado  Don  Juan  Onate 
to  the  discovery  of  the  South  Sea  on  the  i6th  of  April, 
1605." 

[2]  "  Bartolome  Narrso,  Governor  and  Captain-Gen 
eral  of  the  province  of  New  Mexico,  for  our  lord,  the 
king,  passed  by  this  place  on  his  return  from  the  pueblo 
of  Zuni,  on  the  2Qth  of  July,  of  the  year  1620,  and  put 
them  in  peace,  at  their  petition,  asking  the  favor  to  be 
come  subjects  of  his  majesty,  and  anew  they  gave  obedi- 


DON  DIEGO  i  $9 

ence;  all  of  which  they  did  with  free  consent,  knowing 
it  prudent  as  well  as  very  Christian,  ...  to  so  distin 
guished  and  gallant  a  soldier,  indomitable  and  famed; 
we  love  .  .  ."  But  the  aborigines  present  knew  not 
that  these  writings  and  the  strange,  meaningless,  Indian 
hieroglyphics,  cut  in  the  same  bold,  precipitous  white 
sandstone  face,  were  even  there.  The  sleepers  slept  on, 
the  lone  guard  watched,  and  the  hiding  one  prayed  to  his 
gods  that  his  whereabouts  be  not  discovered.  Morning 
finally  came ;  and  the  Navajos,  eating  a  hurried  meal,  re 
sumed  their  wanderings.  And  later  Don  Diego  con 
tinued  his  course  toward  Moqui. 

As  he  was  journeying  he  again  heard  voices. 
Closer  and  closer  the  voices  came.  Among  those  who 
were  talking  were  women:  he  could  hear  girls  giggling. 
He  crawled  around  under  a  bush  and  from  it  he  could 
see  that  the  strangers  were  Pueblos  and  that  they  were 
engaged  in  the  sacred  rabbit  hunt.  He  concluded  at 
once  that  he  must  be  near  the  pueblos  of  Zufii.  It  proved 
to  be  as  he  surmised.  He  was  near  Zufii-Cibola  of  the 
Spanish  conquest,  Halona  of  the  Pueblos.  He  was 
among  friends.  He  immediately  arose  and  made  him 
self  known  to  the  war-captain.  This  Indian  recognized 
him  at  once,  embraced  him  by  facing  him  and  placing 
his  extended  hands  on  his  shoulders,  then  touching  him 
gently  with  the  flat  palms  under  the  arms,  then  stroked 
him  gently  with  the  right  palm  on  the  head  and  shoul 
ders  as  one  would  stroke  a  cat :  this  is  the  Pueblo  way  of 
greeting.  Thus  being  completed,  the  Zufii  chief  asked 
him  to  eat  and  drink  such  food  as  they  had  brought  with 
them.  As  he  ate,  he  told  the  Zuni  his  mission  and  asked 
him  if  he  had  seen  the  woman  he  was  seeking. 


160  DON  DIEGO 

The  one  addressed  studied  a  moment,  then  answered : 
"  No,  brother,  your  wife  is  not  here.  I  saw  them  have 
her  with  them  as  they  passed  by  here  going  to  Moqui. 
They  were  not  cruel  to  her,  but  she  was  held  as  a  pris 
oner.  When  they  returned,  she  was  not  with  them. 
And  a  few  days  later,  her  supposed  husband,  the  Santa 
Anna  chief,  dejected  in  spirit,  came  following  the  others 
looking  for  her,  stating  that  she  had  escaped  from  Moqui 
while  the  Snake  ceremonies  were  in  progress.  He 
seemed  to  be  much  concerned  and  offered  one  of  the  In 
dians  here  two  horses  if  he  would  bring  her  to  Santa 
Anna  to  his  house,  should  she  be  found  by  our  people. 
Several  of  our  Indians  went  to  examine  the  region  to 
the  south  westward  to  see  if  they  could  find  her.  They, 
however,  found  no  trace  of  her,  except  that  one  evening 
just  at  dusk  they  saw  a  lone  woman  fleeing  far  in  the 
distance,  but  the  next  morning  they  could  not  find  her. 
No,  she  is  not  here.  We  did  not  know  that  she  was  your 
wife,  but  Ojeda's,  and  she  had  become  obdurate."  He 
mused  a  moment,  as  he  rubbed  his  hands  together,  then 
continued :  "  No,  brother,  she  is  not  here.  But  you  will 
go  no  further  to-day.  You  are  tired  and  need  rest.  I 
also  invite  you  to  join  in  our  sport.  Here  is  an  extra 
club  I  have  brought  along  with  me.  Use  it  and  when 
night  comes  you  are  to  be  the  guest  of  my  people.  We 
are  glad  to  see  you ;  for  we  know  of  your  gallant  attack 
on  the  pale-faces  at  Santa  Fe.  But  we  must  be  going. 
Here  is  the  extra  rabbit  club  [a  club  shaped  like  a  shinny 
or  golf  club].  We  must  be  going." 

They  soon  joined  the  hunters.  All  were  armed  only 
with  the  rabbit  clubs :  no  bows  or  arrows  or  white  man's 
guns  are  ever  taken  in  this  sacred  hunt  even  in  our  own 


DON  DIEGO  161 

time.  The  hunters  were  closing  in  on  a  sage-brush- 
covered  ridge  just  as  they  came  up.  At  once  the  war- 
captain  took  charge  of  the  movement.  On  all  sides  of 
the  ridge  alike  the  hunters  were  caused  to  advance,  ex 
cept  at  a  point  where  a  small  dry  ravine  descended. 
Here  a  group  lined  up  on  either  side  forming  a  chute- 
like  pocket,  closed  in  at  the  bottom  by  Indians  with  ready 
clubs.  As  those  on  the  other  sides  of  the  ridge  advanced, 
the  game,  thinking  they  could  escape  down  the  appar 
ently  open  ravine,  entered  the  blind  pocket  and  were  at 
once  at  the  mercy  of  the  deftly  handled  clubs.  A  rabbit 
leaped  down  the  chute.  A  dexteriously  hurled  club 
broke  its  back  or  neck.  Another  and  another  rabbit  met 
the  same  fate,  as  the  great  commingling  of  human  voices 
and  the  pounding  of  brush  and  bushes  at  all  other  places 
on  the  ridge  drove  the  game  hither  where  all  was  still. 
A  coyote  ran  down  the  chute.  Club  after  club  passed 
over  it.  Several  hit  it,  but  with  little  effect,  only  to 
make  the  tormented,  scared  beast  run  the  harder. 
Finally,  however,  just  as  it  neared  the  blind  point  of 
the  pocket-inclosure,  a  club  hit  it  on  the  head  and  caused 
it  to  stagger.  Instantly  forty  clubs  were  beating  it  to 
death.  At  this  juncture  the  Zuni  war-captain  stepped 
up  to  Don  Diego,  whose  mind  was  occupied  in  searching 
the  wide  world  for  his  wife,  not  noticing  what  was  going 
on  in  his  immediate  presence,  and,  patting  him  on  the 
shoulder,  said :  "  Brother,  why  do  you  not  kill  some 
thing  and  be  blessed  of  the  gods."  Just  at  that  momejit 
there  was  a  hue  and  din  in  all  parts  of  the  front  of  the 
chute  from  all  parts  of  the  ridge;  while  thundering 
through  the  brush  and  over  the  rocks  came  a  male  deer 
with  antlers  and  head  raised.  Snuffing  the  air  of  dan- 


1 62  DON  DIEGO 

ger,  he  bounded  down  the  open  space  toward  coveted 
liberty.  A  club  hit  him,  another,  a  hundred  more. 
Higher  he  leaped,  jumped.  Swifter  he  bounded.  He 
ran  the  chute,  broke  through  its  protected  terminus  and 
had  leaped  high  into  the  air  in  free  territory,  when  a 
forcibly  hurled,  heavy  club  struck  him  at  the  base  of  the 
skull  and  he  fell  with  a  crash.  Instantly  Don  Diego 
found  himself  being  cheered  and  lauded  by  everyone. 
He  had  killed  the  big  game  of  the  day. 

Soon  the  hunt  was  completed  and  everyone  returned 
to  the  village,  a  quaint  adobe  structure,  even  for  that 
far-away  time.  It  was  a  seven  storied  communal 
house,  a  giant  edifice,  surrounded  by  other,  smaller  build 
ings,  some  only  two  stories  high.  This  village  would 
have  been  odd-looking  to  one  of  us,  with  the  ends  of  the 
heavy  roof-beams  projecting  out  several  feet  from  under 
the  roofs;  some  of  the  buildings  whitewashed,  some 
veneered  with  a  thin  coat  of  yellow-ocher,  and  still  many 
left  in  the  native  mud  color ;  no  doors  as  we  have  them, 
but  hatchways  in  the  roofs;  window-like  portholes,  with 
strips  or  slabs  of  selenite,  crystallized  gypsum,  or  mica 
instead  of  glass;  all  with  ladders  extending  over  the 
bench-step-like  plaza- front  of  the  houses  from  story  to 
story,  with  ladders  projecting  skyward  through  the 
roof-doors  —  their  elongated  poles  uselessly  but  pictur 
esquely  projecting  far  higher  than  the  rounds;  chimneys, 
projecting  here  and  there  above  the  roofs,  made  of 
earthenware  ollas  or  tinajas  piled  one  above  another 
after  their  bottoms  were  removed.  But  these  things 
were  unnoticed  by  Don  Diego:  his  own  village  at  home 
was  builded  somewhat  after  the  same  fashion.  As  they 
entered  the  village,  they  found  the  swarthy  little  people, 


DON  DIEGO  163 

the  children  of  both  sexes  —  fat  as  pigs,  naked  as  they 
were  born,  and  dirty  as  only  naked  Indian  babies  can 
become,  as  they  wallow  in  the  mud  —  playing  one  with 
another  in  front  of  the  houses,  in  the  streets,  on  the 
roofs. 

The  hunting  party  entered  the  plaza  and  placed  the 
captured  game  on  the  ground  in  a  long  line  through 
the  village,  end  to  end,  with  the  larger  game  heading  the 
list  —  all  with  heads  toward  the  evening  sun.  Then  all, 
headed  by  Don  Diego,  passed  down  the  long  line  on  one 
side  of  it  and  then  back  on  the  opposite  side  and  stroked 
each  animal's  hide  with  the  left  hand,  as  they  sprinkled 
it  with  the  sacred  pollen  and  prayed  to  their  gods.  This 
praying,  sprinkling,  stroking  process  being  completed,  the 
populace  lined  up  in  two  long  columns  facing  each  other, 
with  the  victims  of  the  hunt  between  them.  Then  in  the 
presence  of  all,  the  cacique  prayed  that  the  cunningness, 
agility,  and  strength  of  the  animals  stroked  be  imparted 
to  the  stroker.  The  animals  were  then  carried  to  the 
cacique's  house  and  the  people  all  went  to  their  respective 
homes,  Don  Diego  accompanying  the  war  captain  to  his 
house. 

That  night  all  slept  soundly,  but  the  men  of  the  gods. 
These  were  at  the  cacique's  praying  and  doing  penance, 
casting  yellow  corn  [casting  lots],  sprinkling  the  now 
sacred  animals,  skinning  them,  and  putting  the  skins  of 
each  kind  by  themselves :  a  part  of  the  rabbit  skins  were 
to  be  used  in  the  ceremonies  the  following  day ;  the  rest, 
together  with  the  skins  of  the  other  animals  obtained, 
were  to  be  preserved  for  future  religious  ceremonies. 

Morning  came  and  each  Indian  washed  out  his  stom 
ach,  bathed  his  body,  and  combed  and  arranged  his  long 


1 64  DON  DIEGO 

hair.  Then  without  eating  a  mouthful,  the  whole  pop 
ulation  repaired  to  the  "  cacique's  field."  [A  field  set 
apart  by  each  pueblo  village  for  the  use  of  its  gods  is 
known  as  the  cacique's  field.  Everything  raised  in  it  is 
used  in  some  of  the  various  religious  ceremonies  of  the 
place ;  or  as  food  for  the  men  of  the  gods  while  engaged 
in  religious  ceremonies.  A  rabbit  hunt  is  had  at  the 
planting  of  this  field;  also  at  the  gathering  of  the  crop.] 
Reaching  the  field,  the  women  set  about  grinding  meal 
for  bread  for  breakfast  from  parched  corn  previously 
prepared;  they  had  brought  their  grinding  slabs  with 
them.  The  meal  being  ground,  a  stiff  dough  was  made, 
rolled  in  corn  husks  and  baked  in  the  ashes  of  a  huge 
fire  that  had  been  kindled  on  the  margin  of  the  field. 
Then  rabbit  meat  was  broiled  on  the  live  coals  in  suffi 
cient  quantity  to  satisfy  all;  no  other  meat  is  ever  eaten 
on  such  occasions.  As  the  eatables  were  being  prepared 
and  cooked,  the  medicine-priest  fraternity  were  rubbing 
rabbit  fur  with  feathered  sticks  and  praying  to  the  god 
of  all  rabbits.  The  meal  being  ready,  these  same  people 
sprinkled  all  the  rabbit  fur  used  in  the  ceremony  and 
all  the  people  present  with  the  sacred  dusts,  as  they 
prayed  to  the  deities.  Then  all  partook  of  the  repast  set 
before  them.  After  the  meal,  all  present  went  to  gather 
ing  the  crop  from  the  field  of  the  gods.  A  process  simi 
lar  to  that  described  as  occurring  at  Jemez  the  day  Don 
Diego  departed,  except  that  everything,  gathered  in,  was 
stored  in  the  cacique's  official  residence  for  use  in  re 
ligious  ceremonies. 

Don  Diego  stayed  not  for  the  close  of  these  cere 
monies.  He  was  anxious  to  be  on  his  quest.  He  now 
knew  that  his  wife  had  been  last  seen  at  Moqui,  that 


DON  DIEGO  165 

Ojeda  had  told  the  truth  when  he  said  she  was  not  at 
Santa  Anna.  Toward  the  noon  hour  he  bade  the  Zuni 
war-captain  adieu  and  started  toward  Moqui. 

As  he  journeyed,  he  passed  by  Thunder  Mountain 
mesa,  the  Zuni  fort  of  the  old  times,  where  now  the  Zuni 
lasses  and  lads  go  and  pray  for  their  life  partners;  and 
here  then  as  now  were  the  shrines  of  the  Zuni  to  their 
warrior  god  Unaika.  But  Don  Diego  was  not  looking  for 
the  god  of  war.  At  last  he  arrived  in  sight  of  one  of  the 
towns  of  the  Moqui  Indians,  the  people  who  reverently 
regard  the  snake  as  their  maternal  ancestor,  the  snakes 
being  their  elder  brothers,  and  through  whom  they 
pray  to  those  above  for  rain.  Before  him  lay  the  vil 
lage  like  a  toy  —  but  such  a  toy  and  such  a  village !  The 
town  stretched  before  him  —  a  long  line  of  gray  adobe 
houses  arranged  in  cell-like  structure,  crudely  resembling 
a  mud-wasp's  nest,  set  on  glaring  red  sand,  and  sur 
rounded  by  gray,  sun-parched  sagebrush. 

As  he  approached,  the  walls  of  the  village  showed 
vari-colored  life.  Against  the  dull  background,  the  sun 
blazed  down  upon  a  kaleidoscopic  mass  of  red  and  green 
and  blue.  The  pueblo  and  adjacent  mesa  swarmed  with 
gleaming,  painted  savages,  half  clad  in  gaudy  feathers 
and  gay  breech-cloths.  It  was  a  gala  day.  The  harvest- 
corn-husking  dance  was  in  session.  It  was  a  masked 
ghost  dance  like  the  one  previously  described,  except  that 
all  the  actors  wore  wreaths  of  corn  and  pumpkin  vines; 
the  clowns  so  loaded  themselves  with  these  things  that 
they  would  have  reminded  one  much  of  Christian  with 
his  load  of  sin  in  Bunyan's  "  Pilgrim's  Progress."  But 
Don  Diego  cared  not  for  this  dance.  Not  even  when 
the  corn,  pumpkins,  and  peppers  were  thrown  heaven- 


1 66 


DON  DIEGO 


HOPI  SONG 


Presto. 
Prelude . 
A 


$:f 


m 


—*—*- 

He  ye  ye  ye    ne  ya  a    a    a     a    a    ah    Ha  wo   e  na  moo, 

Let    us  (ye)  my  fathers, 


Anteral . 


sc^qi 


i 

Ha   wo      e        na  moo    E    tarn  na-65    ka-l&    ye -a      ka-a 
Let      us      (ye)      my  fathers,  Let     us    say  good -bye    to     one    an-  oth-er 


Interlude. 


3^ 


J-J-Ja4ii= 


O     ma     o     c65     co     ye       va       ne      ya     he  na    6, 

That  the  clouds  may       gath   •    er. 


CHORUS. 


A       yaho    II       a        ya  ya    a    a    ya        ya       ho        II ; 


A   a  -  ha  e   yl  -hi  a   a  a  ha  ha  a  e  he  He  -  e  he-e 

CODA. 


a  he  ye  ne  ya  ye  ne  ya   a  a   a   a  Ya   ya. 

Transcribed  by  W.  H.  Pfeifer. 

ward  to  be  trampled  under  foot  as  a  thank  offering  for 
the  bounties  of  the  generous  gods  did  he  pay  any  atten 
tion.  He  was  looking  for  his  lost  wife  and  here  was 
where  she  was  seen  last,  so  far  as  he  could  learn.  His 


DON  DIEGO 


167 


mind  was  occupied  in  planning  how  he  would  proceed  in 
his  search,  of  how  he  would  make  his  inquiries.  Noth 
ing  could  be  done  that  day  till  the  ceremonies  were  con 
cluded.  So  he  patiently  waited. 

It  was  ten  o'clock  the  next  day  before  he  got  an  audi 
ence  with  the  governor  and  war-captain  of  the  place. 
They  knew  him  and  readily  granted  the  conference,  but 
were  surprised  when  they  learned  the  purpose  of  his 
coming.  After  hearing  the  story,  the  governor  ques- 

POPULAR  SONG 


O         u      nah 

o          u    nah        o          u      nah 

X       X            It                                                             A 

[    Jf      Tlif            P* 

r 

P    P      fc 

n 

f\           0                             fh. 

^ 

JN   J         3 

1            i 

, 

k.      1     N 

P  II 

fCT)             "      R 

!   .   .  . 

r    »  •     9 

-J  4— 

—  — 

—  F^-J 

H 

ty                   ^    " 

i  —  1  —  «-^  — 

L.  1  L-^,  U_^  

o      u  nah      o       u  nah   Ith  yo       e       hay       nay. 

Music  transcribed  by  Albert  Gale. 
FAREWELL  SONG 


* 


•^^^ 

She  say-  zay  -  ga  zi  -  yo   da  -  yah,    she   say-  zay 


r^    ^   ^   ^ 


^    * 


^ 


ga  zi  -  yo   da  -  yah.    she   say-  zay  -  ga  zi  -  yo 


n  u 

A                      '1. 

m 

JLJii  —  N  — 

F^^ 

rfK  tt  j^  i  — 

-j\^     J^ 

1  1  

'  1= 

-x  —  ^ 

J           I              1 

da  -  yah, 


nah    i         ya  -  lab. 

Music  transcribed  by  Albert  Gale. 


1 68 


DON  DIEGO 


MEDICINE  SONG 


ac  aczn    „.     ,L  p  j 
irn  "  4  4    r^    s*  j  • 

j  j  n  i 

-fr 

fej^ 

^*- 

~>- 

i  —  r^ 

WJ       44             ,N  i 

«    1    ! 

! 

-N-*- 

i 

t)                  *  '    *                              •_• 
To-kwa  zhu-na  nod-o-tash 

m  •    m                    9   m^      m 
to-kwa  zhu-na  nod-o-tash 

A 

_»      if  Ll                                           |^              ^ 

r      r      \ 

P 

^ 

Xj           ff           \              N        ~P         J 

3H  —  v 

+ 

k  ^ 

19)  —  ~  —  1  N  —  ^  — 

—  pi  — 

—  \-^- 

—  i  —  *  —  * 

—  h- 

—  P  — 

^-jr      —  y<«     «                                                 9 
to  -  kwa  zuh-  na   nod  -  o  -  tush-she 

n  ft                    x    -     - 

V 

ah    i      a 

JT  •       • 
.  .  nah     ah 

^_                  A 

U  ft  u                     K      r 

i"^      i^      .. 

r 

^T 

/L                          IL                fL            ^ 

* 

h    J     J 

k.  "i 

fiSI3t3CIZn~I       * 

•      « 

B 

..f\^  . 

to  -  kwa  zhu-  na  nod  -  o  -  tush-she   ah    i      a. .  nah     ah. 

Music  transcribed  by  Albert  Gale. 

tioned  him  closely  about  the  woman.  "  Did  you  say," 
he  asked,  "  that  the  woman  with  our  friend  Ojeda  was 
your  wife?  " 

"  Yes,  she  was  my  wife." 

"  Did  you  not  know  that  our  honored  ruler,  the  ruler 
of  all  the  Pueblos,  gave  an  order  that  any  man  of  our 
race  could  take  any  woman  he  chose  and  marry  her  ac 
cording  to  our  customs,  whether  she  were  single  or  was 
married  to  another,  had  the  ceremony  been  performed  by 
a  Christian  priest?  And  your  wife  — " 

"  Hold,"  broke  in  Don  Diego ;  "  we  never  were  mar 
ried  by  any  Catholic  priest;  or  by  any  ceremony  of  the 
pale- faces.  I  married  my  wife  according  to  the  cus 
toms  of  our  fathers  and  the  decrees  of  our  gods.  She 
is  legally  my  wife  and  wishes  to  be  my  wife,  if  alive. 
She  is  faithful  to  me  and  I  will  always  be  to  her.  You 
say  she  ran  away  from  Ojeda,  and  she  has  not  been  seen 
since?  " 

"  Yes,"  spoke  up  the  war-captain,  "  she  seems  to  have 


DON  DIEGO  169 

KWAATTE  SONG  OF  THE  QUILLAYUTES 


day,  ah  ye  da     2,     a K  wees  clee  tah.k wees  clee 


i 


i 


> — &> 


tah    ah   ah    he    che  kwal  ah  chet  chu  u    yah  us  shes  koo  lah 


I  JO 


DON  DIEGO 


-OJ 

2£ 

t=d 

— 

N  —  N 

H  *y 

| 

=^=^ 

1         t^     IJ 

a 

t=i 

=£: 

a     a  lah  wats  ah  keel  ah  ye  day  ah  ye  da    a      a 

^*~ 

± 

Jf    fr  

—  — 

1  

J 

H  

i 

—  •  

B 

(m     g 

p  — 

I 

3 

gj 

-a(  -^  

I 

—  f— 

1 

I 

t'* 

1 

T 

* 

1 

1 

3s 

i 

- 
• 

'  1 

y^^«  ff 

* 

[\^*  Ji 

J 

^-~ 

2 

TW^ 

J 

^ 

^* 

3 

^j 

-z*-             -s 

Melod 

-^                    -Bf 
y  recorded,  Aug.  9,  1905.  .  J  hv  Alhert  r-,. 

gone  in  that  direction,"  pointing  eastward.  "  But  though 
we  diligently  searched  for  her,  we  were  unable  to  track 
her.  She  is  not  here.  Brother,  she  is  not  here.  It 
may  be  that  in  her  wanderings  she  has  gone  to  '  the  na 
tion  of  the  willows/  though  that  place  is  to  the  westward 
of  us." 

Yet  that  day  Don  Diego  set  out  with  a  lone  guide  for 
the  "  nation  of  the  willows,"  the  Knhnikui,  as  they  were 
called  by  their  neighbors,  or  Yava  Supais,  as  they  call 
themselves.  In  due  course  of  time  they  arrived  at  the 
home  of  this  people,  who  might  also  be  termed  "  the 
dwellers  in  the  canyon  depths,"  for  their  village  is  situ 
ated  on  a  little  side  stream  in  the  Grand  Canyon  of  the 
Colorado  itself :  to  use  the  Indian  phrase,  "  they  are  in 
the  biggest  ditch  in  the  world."  Truly,  nowhere  else  on 
earth  has  man  found  so  stupendous  a  dwelling  place, —  a 
tiny  fertile  spot,  green,  dotted  with  orchards  and  fields, 
is  bisected  by  a  little  creek  whose  banks  are  lined  with 
willows  of  the  dainty  kind  used  in  fine  basket  weave. 
This  little  area  is  an  inclosed  amphitheater  of  nature's 


DON  DIEGO  171 

make.  At  its  front  is  the  great  gorge  of  the  Colorado. 
Surrounding  it  on  the  curved  side  rise  red  sandstone 
walls  to  a  height  of  more  than  two  thousand  feet,  the 
strata  so  symmetrically  arranged  that  it  causes  one  to 
imagine  it  the  work  of  giants  of  a  previous  earth  age. 

Arriving  at  the  place,  Don  Diego  made  inquiries 
through  his  guide-interpreter  if  they  had  seen  the  woman ; 
and  offered  them  presents  if  they  would  tell  him  her 
whereabouts.  A  council  was  called;  and,  after  a  thor 
ough  inquiry,  the  chief  man  of  the  place  advised  the 
strangers  that  none  of  his  people  had  even  seen  the 
woman  they  mentioned.  He  said  he  was  sorry,  and  re 
gretted  very  much  that  he  could  not  aid  them;  but  the 
woman  was  not  in  the  country  of  his  jurisdiction  and 
never  had  been. 

Don  Diego,  sad  of  heart,  started  on  his  return:  there 
was  nothing  else  for  him  to  do.  In  a  few  days  he  was 
again  at  Moqui ;  and  a  few  days  later  he  passed  through 
Zuni  and  on  to  Acoma.  Thence  he  went  northwest 
ward  to  Taos  by  the  way  of  the  pueblo  of  San  Juan; 
but  at  none  of  these  places  did  he  hear  any  news  of 
Geetlu's  having  been  seen  by  anyone.  At  Taos  he  con 
ferred  with  Pope  concerning  Ojeda's  taking  his  wife; 
but  failed  to  get  any  satisfaction  from  that  august  per 
son.  From  this  place  he  turned  homeward  down  the 
Rio  Grande. 

Passing  Cochiti  and  Santo  Domingo,  he  took  the  cut 
off  between  the  San  Felipe  lava  flows  and  the  eastern 
limb  of  the  Cochiti  mountains. 

As  he  was  journeying  toward  dusk  the  evening  of  the 
night  before  the  day  he  expected  to  arrive  at  Jemez,  he 
saw  footprints  ahead  of  him  in  the  sand.  He  was 


172  DON  DIEGO 

walking  fast  and  paid  no  attention  to  them  at  first. 
Suddenly,  however,  a  very  plain,  fresh  impression  in 
the  loose  sand  of  the  trail  attracted  his  attention.  The 
make  of  the  moccasin  that  made  the  print  was  not  of  the 
Pueblo  type.  He  got  down  on  his  hands  and  knees  and 
examined  the  tracks  more  closely.  An  enemy  was  in 
the  country.  The  moccasin  prints  were  those  of  Yute 
Indians,  and  of  men  only.  Evidently  a  band  of  war 
riors  were  on  their  way  toward  Jemez;  for  only  Indian 
warriors  travel  without  their  women.  Quick  as  thought, 
he  slunk  from  the  trail  and  hid  himself  behind  the  first 
obstruction,  and  took  a  closer,  searching  view  of  the 
surrounding  country.  Sure  enough  a  band  of  warriors 
was  ahead  of  him.  His  eyes  had  not  deceived  him. 
The  rear  members  of  the  band  were  only  a  little  way 
ahead,  just  around  a  slight  turn.  He  could  hear  them 
talking;  he  could  have  heard  them  before,  had  his  mind 
not  been  so  deeply  occupied  with  the  thoughts  of  getting 
home.  He  crawled  out  at  an  angle  from  the  trail  from 
bush  to  bush  till  he  could  get  a  fair  view  of  the  maraud 
ing  band.  They  were  painted  and  shone  glisteningly  in 
the  light  of  the  declining  sun.  In  addition,  they  car 
ried  shields  and  other  war  implements  in  their  hands; 
and,  also,  had  their  hair  cut  to  the  scalp  lock.  There 
were  many  of  them.  They  were  warriors;  and  their 
steps  were  directed  around  the  point  of  land  ahead  to 
ward  Jemez.  A  supreme  determination  took  possession 
of  Don  Diego:  he  would  save  his  people.  But  till  dark 
ness  filled  the  valley-canon,  he  must  stay  in  hiding.  So 
he  concealed  himself  and  patiently  waited  the  setting  of 
the  sun  and  the  going  down  of  the  new  moon. 

When  he  was  sure  that  it  was  dark  enough  so  he 


DON  DIEGO  173 

could  venture  out  in  the  open  without  being  seen,  he  re 
sumed  his  journey,  not  by  the  regular  path  but  by  a  detour 
over  a  point  of  the  eastern  extension  of  the  Cochiti  Range. 
Though  the  distance  was  much  greater  and  the  trail 
rougher  than  around  the  point,  the  way  the  Santa  Fe  road 
runs  to-day,  he  had  faith  that,  knowing  the  country  as 
he  did,  he  could  reach  his  village  in  time  to  warn  the  peo 
ple  of  the  approaching  danger.  He  started  in  a  "  coyote 
gallop,"  the  peculiar  Pueblo  gait  used  in  the  long  dis 
tance  contests.  He  crossed  the  low  sandy  bench, 
climbed  up  the  mountain  foot,  over  it,  and  into  the  Val- 
lecieto  valley ;  and  on  over  upturned  Red-Bed  rock  to  the 
fertile  region  of  the  Jemez  valley.  Once  he  fell  and 
rolled  down  a  steep  place;  but,  unharmed,  he  was  im 
mediately  on  his  feet  again,  never  stopping  his  running 
pace  till  he  had  reached  the  watch  tower  of  his  native 
village.  The  watchman  halted  him.  But  on  taking  him, 
to  the  light  of  a  small  fire  that  was  burning  in  the  tower, 
he  was  overjoyed  to  see  him,  as  it  had  been  reported 
that  he  had  been  killed  by  a  band  of  Navajos.  He  was 
about  to  embrace  him  in  greeting,  when  Don  Diego 
seized  the  watch  tower  drum  and  sounded  the  warrior 
call. 

The  streets  and  plazas  were  quickly  filled  with  armed 
braves  who  had  rushed  from  their  sleeping  apartments 
so  quickly  that  they  were  daubing  themselves  with  war 
paint  as  they  ran.  Hurriedly  Don  Diego  told  them  of  the 
impending  raid ;  and  quickly  he  placed  the  warriors  both 
within  and  without  the  village  in  the  most  advantageous 
positions  both  for  attack  and  defense.  Then  all  became 
quiet  again,  as  all  waited  for  the  Yutes  to  fall  into  the 
trap  that  had  been  laid  for  them. 


174  DON  DIEGO 

The  orders  had  been  given  in  the  dark,  and  no  one 
but  the  watchman  knew  that  Don  Diego  had  returned. 
But  all  knew  that  whoever  was  giving  the  orders  knew 
his  business.  Faithfully,  they  patiently  waited:  messen 
gers  were  also  sent  to  warn  the  Indians  in  the  other  parts 
of  the  Jemez  country. 

The  Yutes  had  planned  to  fall  upon  the  village  just 
at  break  of  day,  at  the  time  the  watchman  would  become 
less  vigilant.  They  had  already  made  successful  raids 
on  Taos  and  Picaris  two  days  previous,  carrying  off 
men,  women,  and  children,  and  most  all  the  provisions 
and  stock  of  each  place;  and  now  they  hoped  to  take 
Jemez  by  surprise  the  same  way,  before  word  could 
reach  them  of  their  being  in  the  region.  They  had  at 
tacked  these  places  after  Don  Diego  had  left  them  on  his 
trip  down  the  Rio  Grande;  and  he  likewise  was  not 
aware  of  their  presence  in  the  heart  of  the  pueblo  coun 
try.  Not  only  that  but  the  Jemez  were  scattered  in  their 
valley  villages  (it  was  now  seed-planting  time  in  the 
spring  of  1681)  ;  and  they  did  not  suspect  that  an  enemy 
was  in  the  country;  their  fortified  village  was  on  the 
mesa  at  the  forks  of  the  river.  But  for  the  timely  ar 
rival  of  Don  Diego,  they  would  have  been  wholly  at  the 
mercy  of  the  invadors.  The  valley-village  that  they  had 
planned  to  attack  was  then  to  the  east  of  the  same  ravine 
of  which  the  consolidated  village  is  now  to  the  west 
ward  and  adjacent  to  it. 

As  the  first  gray  streak  of  light  shone  over  the  valley 
in  the  early  dawn  of  that  April  morning,  the  raiders 
were  seen  in  the  ravine  closely  hugging  the  north  wall; 
the  ravine  has  its  general  course  east  and  west.  They 
were  crawling  and  gliding  along  as  noiselessly  as  possi- 


DON  DIEGO  175 

ble,  with  shields  used  as  hand  pads  for  the  left  hands. 
Their  bows  and  arrows  were  held  in  their  right  hands; 
their  tomahawks  and  dirk-knives  were  in  their  belts 
at  their  sides.  So  sure  were  they  of  surprising  the  place 
that  they  had  taken  no  precaution  against  a  possible 
sortie,  or  ambuscade.  They  had  nearly  reached  the 
open  space  in  front  of  the  village-wall,  when  from  the 
mesa  adjacent  to  the  stream  at  the  north  great  quanti 
ties  of  large  bowlders  were  hurled  down  with  death- 
dealing  effect  upon  the  semi-prostrate,  crawling  Yutes 
beneath.  The  battle  was  on.  The  Jemez  had  begun 
the  onslaught.  There  was  scrambling  in  the  gulch: 
there  were  shouts,  the  hurling  of  huge  rocks,  the  shoot 
ing  of  arrows  from  the  mesa  brink.  Those  of  the  at 
tacked  who  could  extricate  themselves  fled  to  the  open 
spaces  in  the  vicinity;  and,  with  shield  in  position,  began 
to  send  arrows  into  the  ranks  of  the  Jemez  on  the  mesa 
wall.  At  the  same  time,  quite  a  group  of  them  rushed 
upon  the  village  itself;  there  were  so  many  of  them  that 
they  were  sure  they  had  the  place  at  their  mercy.  In 
addition,  they  thought  that  if  they  could  once  get  into 
the  village  and  commence  killing  the  women  and  chil 
dren,  the  Jemez  braves  would  become  disheartened  and 
abandon  the  place  to  them.  They  killed  the  guards  at 
the  entrance  and  gained  the  plaza.  At  about  the  same 
instant  Don  Diego  closed  on  the  enemy's  rear  and  swept 
down  the  canon-like  valley,  killing  everything  before 
him.  At  the  same  time  the  battle  was  hotly  contested  in 
the  plaza  and  on  both  flanks  in  the  section  of  the  ravine. 
The  enemy  was  in  a  veritable  slaughter  pit.  From  all 
sides,  front  and  rear,  the  death-dealing  missiles  were 
hurled  invariably  to  the  intended  mark.  But  the  Yutes 


176  DON  DIEGO 

were  many  in  number  and  all  fought  desperately.  They 
cleared  the  plaza,  drove  the  people  to  their  house-roofs, 
then  commenced  to  take  possession  of  them  and  descend 
the  ladders  and  mercilessly  murder  the  screaming,  plead 
ing  women  and  the  helpless  children.  The  Jemez  braves 
within  the  village,  aided  by  the  old  men  and  boys,  ral 
lied.  They  closed  on  the  heartless  enemy.  The  contest 
became  a  hand  to  hand  fight.  What  the  Jemez  could  not 
accomplish  with  arrows  they  now  accomplished  with 
dirk  and  war  club.  No  Yute  that  ever  entered  a  house 
got  out  of  it  alive.  Those  on  the  roofs  were  either 
killed  or  driven  to  the  plaza  and  from  there  ejected 
without  the  village  into  the  fiery  furnace,  as  it  were ;  for 
now  they  were  compelled  to  fight  the  combined  Jemez 
army  in  the  open.  They  saw,  at  once,  that  they  were 
defeated.  They  attempted  to  cut  through  the  Jemez  rear 
and  make  their  escape  up  the  ravine.  Thus,  almost  in 
stantly,  was  the  main  fighting  transferred  to  that  di 
vision  of  the  Jemez  braves  that  held  the  canon,  the  di 
vision  in  charge  of  Don  Diego  himself.  This  division 
stood  up  like  a  stone  wall  against  the  terrible  onslaughts 
of  the  enemy  who  were  fighting  the  death  that  stared 
them  in  the  face.  But  a  stone  wall  will  stand  only  so 
much  pressure,  then  it  yields ;  so  also  with  a  division  of 
men.  The  Yutes  broke  through  the  Jemez  lines;  and 
the  tables  for  it  were  turned :  it  was  let  him  save  himself 
who  could ;  or  deal  as  much  death  to  the  enemy  as  possi 
ble  before  his  own  end  came.  Don  Diego  was  swept 
away  with  the  division.  In  vain  did  he  try  to  rally  his 
braves.  Back  and  back  the  enemy  pushed  the  small 
division  who  still  remained  alive  around  him  faithful  to 
the  Jemez  gods.  Finally  they  reached  the  place  where 


DON  DIEGO  177 

the  canon  is  "  boxed."  The  water,  when  there  is  any, 
falls  over  a  broad  precipice  from  the  level  mesa  into  the 
canon ;  the  hard  layer  at  the  summit  of  the  mesa  protects 
the  less  hard  rock  beneath,  but  the  latter  crumbles  faster 
than  the  former  is  worn  away,  hence  a  hooded  projec-1 
tion.  Into  this  roofed  pit  the  enemy  drove  Don  Diego 
and  his  handful  of  men.  On  them  they  charged.  But 
the  defenders  flinched  not.  With  their  bows  and  arrows 
they  did  good  service  till  the  last  arrow  was  gone.  Then 
with  well  handled  shields,  they  kept  themselves  from 
being  hit  with  the  arrows  dispatched  at  them,  returning 
the  arrows  in  a  most  unfriendly  manner  as  fast  as  they 
chanced  to  get  in  their  reach.  Coming  closer,  the  enemy 
then  charged  upon  them  with  their  war  clubs  and  In 
dian  axes.  Fiercely  and  savagely  they  fought.  The  de 
fenders  and  assailants  went  to  the  death  together 
gripped  in  each  others'  arms,  with  hands  gripped  to  tufts 
of  hair  and  pieces  of  bloody  scalps.  Finally,  of  the 
Jemez,  Don  Diego  alone  was  left  of  the  righting  division 
that  had  entered  the  canon,  and  of  the  Yutes  only  two 
were  left  in  fighting  condition.  The  latter  charged  upon 
the  war-captain,  who  was  so  surrounded  by  the  dead  and 
dying  that  he  could  hardly  find  space  in  which  to  act. 
He  hurled  his  war  club  at  the  foremost  one  as  he  rnshed 
at  him,  but  missed  his  aim,  succeeding,  however,  in  dis 
patching  him  with  his  dirk-knife;  but  at  the  same  mo 
ment  he  received  a  wound  in  his  side  that  staggered  him. 
The  other  Yute,  taking  advantage  of  the  proffered  in 
stant,  leaped  upon  him  with  a  blood-curdling  yell,  seized 
him  by  the  hair,  and,  pressing  him  against  the  wall  by 
sheer  force  of  weight  against  an  exhausted  man,  he 
raised  his  hand  to  deliver  the  fatal  blow.  It  was  a  ter- 


178  DON  DIEGO 

rible  moment.  With  one  supreme  effort,  Don  Diego 
rallied  all  his  strength.  With  one  powerful  blow  of  his 
left  fist,  he  struck  his  antagonist  a  stunning  blow  on  the 
point  of  the  chin,  and  at  the  same  time  so  raised  his  arm 
as  to  ward  off  the  intended  knife  thrust.  With  his 
right  hand  he  drove  his  dirk  to  his  enemy's  heart.  The 
battle  was  over. 

Don  Diego,  the  victor,  was  carried  on  the  shoulders  of 
a  grateful  people  into  the  village  and  to  his  home.  But 
it  was  no  home  to  him;  for  what  is  home  without  the 
wife. 


CHAPTER  XI 

SAD  and  down-hearted,  Don  Diego  resumed  the  role 
of  life  in  his  native  village  again.  He  was  tired 
and  he  needed  to  recuperate  from  the  slight  wounds  re 
ceived  in  battle  with  the  Yutes.  But  no  respite  was  given 
him.  The  storm  was  already  begun  from  whose  effects 
the  Pueblos  never  recovered.  The  seven  years'  "  rain 
of  ashes "  had  already  entered  the  arena  of  action. 
There  was  no  rest,  no  peace.  It  was  tiger  and  lion,  and 
lion  and  tiger  fighting  to  the  death  in  an  amphitheater; 
Yutes,  Apaches,  Pueblos,  Spaniards,  Mexicans. 

The  scene  at  once  transferred  itself  to  the  vicinity  of 
El  Paso  [Texas] ;  then  back  to  the  Pueblo  country. 

Calling  a  halt  in  his  retreat  near  where  El  Paso  is 
now  situated,  Governor  Otermin  began  to  plan  for  the 
recovery  of  his  lost  province.  Two  things  were  to  ac 
complish  this  for  him.  What  he  could  not  accomplish  in 
arms,  intrigue  and  "  awful  diseases  "  were  to  bring  to 
pass. 

In  the  spring  of  1681  some  of  the  Indians  were  taken 
sick  of  a  dreadful  disease  and  they  were  doctored 
according  to  the  Indian  customs.  Every  Indian  in 
the  village  visited  them.  To  use  the  Indian  phrase, 
"  we  visit  our  sick " ;  and  they  did.  In  a  fortnight, 
worse  than  the  plagues  of  Egypt  had  taken  possession 
of  the  land.  Raving,  the  sick  ones  tossed  about  on 
their  sheepskin  mats,  bumped  their  heads  against  the 

179 


i8o  DON  DIEGO 

wall,  rushed  out  into  the  streets,  even  ran  to  the  river, 
jumping  into  its  cooling  waters  to  abate  the  terrible 
burning.  The  medicine  men  sprinkled  the  patients  with 
sacred  meal  and  pollen,  prayed  to  the  gods,  contorted 
and  otherwise  mortified  their  own  bodies,  doctored  the 
sick  with  a  crude  massage,  and  occasionally  gave  them 
root-tea  to  drink.  While  they  were  doing  this,  a  house 
full  of  nude  men  danced  around  the  sick  one  in  the  cell- 
like  room  till  the  room  was  hot  and  the  air  was  foul. 
When  they  had  performed  as  long  as  they  could  stand  it 
in  the  ill-ventilated  room,  they  would  rush  into  the  streets 
and  plaza  and  run  hither  and  thither,  uttering  shriek 
after  shriek  that  would  have  made  one  think  that  the 
demons  of  the  lower  world  had  taken  possession  of  the 
place.  These  were  the  night  ceremonies.  In  the  day 
time  hours,  small  "  wickey-up  "  sweat-houses  were  made 
in  wigwam-fashion  by  the  river's  brink.  These  were 
covered  over  with  hides  and  blankets  till  practically  air 
tight.  In  the  center  of  each  were  placed  red  hot  rocks. 
Around  the  heated  piles,  the  "  sick  "  were  placed.  Water 
was  thrown  on  the  rocks  till  the  room  was  filled  with 
hot  steam.  Then  "  scalding-hot,"  they  threw  the  en 
trance-way  open  to  the  respective  sweat-houses  and 
plunged  from  it  into  the  swift  cold  waters  of  the  adjacent 
stream,  to  reach  the  opposite  bank  in  a  death-chill  from 
which  they  never  recovered.  Some  homes  were  obliter 
ated.  Of  some  pueblos,  not  a  living  soul  was  left.  The 
disease  took  its  victims  till  there  were  no  more  to  take. 
It  wore  itself  out:  the  Indian  doctor-performances  only 
augmented  the  mortality  list. 

The    disease    was    stayed.     Then    came    the    Devil's 
Dance  to  prevent  its  coming  again,  as  if  such  things 


DON  DIEGO  181 

would  stay  a  plague.  For  four  days  and  four  nights, 
each  village  that  had  people  enough  to  dance,  danced  in 
masked,  ghost-dance  fashion,  shrieked,  hallooed,  yelled, 
screamed,  sprinkled  the  dusts  of  the  gods,  prayed,  and 
pounded  themselves  with  clubs,  pricked  themselves  with 
cactus,  gashed  themselves  with  knives,  thrust  the  fleshy 
parts  of  arms  and  legs  through  and  through  with  elk- 
horn  spikes,  and  mortified  their  bodies  in  every  other 
conceivable  way  known  to  the  pueblos  to  appease  the 
wrath  of  their  gods. 

While  disease  was  operating,  other  things  were 
progressing  to  bring  about  the  death  of  great  numbers  of 
those  whom  fate  had  spared.  Through  Spanish  in 
trigues,  it  was  newsed  throughout  the  pueblo  region  that 
a  considerable  part  of  the  pueblo  villages  were  in  favor 
of  the  Spaniards.  These  villages  were  mostly  in  the 
southeastern  part  of  the  middle  Rio  Grande  country. 
Rumor  had  it  that  they  were  Tiguas,  Piros,  and  Tom- 
Piros. 

Hardly  had  the  ravages  of  the  pestilence  ceased,  when 
the  northern  tribes  were  in  a  jealous  rage.  War  prep 
arations  were  on  every  hand  in  the  Jemez  and  Queres 
villages.  The  streets  resounded  with  the  war  whoops. 
The  war  dance  filled  every  plaza.  The  big  drums  beat 
out  the  long  roll.  The  braves,  leaping  and  jumping  and 
tossing  their  weapons  high  into  the  air,  marched  out  of 
the  villages  on  their  mission  of  destruction  and  slaugh 
ter.  Carefully  they  marched  and  so  well  planned  were 
their  movements  that  the  unsuspecting  Pueblos  that  were 
supposed  to  be  friendly  to  the  white  people  were  taken 
wholly  by  surprise.  At  each  village  the  men  had  gone 
to  their  daily  work  in  the  fields,  all  were  hoeing  and  irri- 


i8a  DON  DIEGO 

gating  their  corn.  The  women  were  busy  in  the  villages 
at  their  house  work,  singing  the  time  away.  Suddenly 
there  was  a  blood-curdling  whoop;  and  instantly  the 
ceaseless  massacre  took  possession  of  every  quarter. 
There  was  running,  and  screaming,  and  begging,  and 
pleading;  but  all  in  vain.  The  people  of  Piros  all  per 
ished;  the  Tom-Piros  were  exterminated;  a  few  of  the 
Tiguas  escaped  to  Moqui.* 

Triumphant,  the  victors  returned  laden  with  booty, 
the  Jemez  to  find  their  own  villages  sacked  by  the  Yutes, 
who  had  also  simultaneously  attacked  Taos,  Picuries, 
and  especially  the  Tehuas.  With  his  braves,  Don  Diego 
followed  the  marauding  Yute  band  that  had  devastated 
the  Jemez  country.  By  forced  travel,  he  overtook  them 
in  the  Valle  Grande  country,  the  great  valley  between 
the  mountain  peaks  on  the  summit  of  the  Jemez  range. 
Here  taking  them  by  surprise,  he  routed  them,  killing  a 
great  number.  He  recaptured  the  Jemez  prisoners,  men, 
women,  and  children,  and  sent  them  back  to  Jemez  with 
a  division  of  his  braves ;  while  he  pursued  the  fleeing 
enemy.  He  appeared  before  Taos,  which  was  being  be 
sieged,  and  drove  the  Yutes  from  it ;  but  came  near  being 
annihilated  by  the  Taos,  who  mistook  his  warriors  for 
enemies.  The  Picuries  had  already  routed  the  enemy 
in  a  pitched  battle.  A  few  days  later  the  combined 
Pueblo  army  under  Pope  and  Don  Diego  routed  the  re 
maining  Yutes  that  were  attacking  the  Tehuas  villages, 
killing  their  chief  and  recapturing  all  the  captives  they 
had  taken. 

*  It  must  be  understood  that  the  author  has,  at  times,  used 
the  novelists'  license.  This  description,  however,  is  in  the  main 
after  Bancroft's  History,  vol.  on  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  which 
refers  to  the  extermination  of  the  Piros,  etc. 


DON  DIEGO  183 

While  these  stirring  events  were  going  on  in  the  north, 
rumor  had  it  that  the  Spaniards  were  making  an  entrada 
to  reconquer  the  country  —  this  is  what  the  Spaniards 
had  planned  to  do  as  soon  as  they  thought  the  condi 
tions  were  favorable,  and  this  seemed  to  be  the  suitable 
opportunity.  The  entrada  was  actually  in  operation, 
Governor  Otermin  was  on  his  way  northward  to  re 
establish  the  Spanish  authority  in  the  land  and  to  rebuild 
his  reputation,  as  governor.  On  December  6th,  1681, 
he  arrived  at  Ysleta,  near  the  present  sight  of  Albu 
querque  on  this  northern  trip  to  reconquer  the  lost  prov 
ince.  The  Ysleta  Indians  submitted.  But  to  the  north 
ward  there  was  opposition.  The  Jemez  and  most  of  the 
northern  tribes  were  still  in  the  throes  of  a  gigantic 
struggle  with  the  Yutes;  but  the  Queres  were  free. 
These  were  quickly  gathered  by  (Alonso)  Catite  to  op 
pose  Otermin.  But  that  cowardly  general,  having  once 
been  defeated  by  the  Indians,  did  not  wish  to  engage  in 
a  titanic  struggle  with  them  again,  being  surprised  to 
find  so  many  Indians  yet  able  to  fight.  Upon  the  ap 
proach  of  the  aborigines,  he  fled  from  the  region,  be 
ginning  his  retreat  January  2d,  1682.  To  keep  the 
Ysleta  Indians  that  had  submitted  to  his  authority  from 
being  exterminated  by  their  angry  brethren,  he  took  them 
with  him  to  the  number  of  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
five,  burning  their  village.  On  reaching  the  vicinity  of 
El  Paso,  he  founded  the  village  of  Ysleta,  Texas,  for  his 
Indian  allies.  Thus  ended  the  first  attempt  to  reconquer 
New  Mexico. 

Thus  the  Spaniards  were  driven  from  the  country  a 
second  time ;  but  there  was  no  peace  for  the  noble  Pueblo. 
Hardly  had  the  braves  washed  the  paint  from  their 


1 84  DON  DIEGO 

bodies,  when  the  Apaches  and  Navajos  began  to  make 
raids  into  the  land  of  villages;  and  for  years  it  necessi 
tated  the  most  careful  vigilance  to  keep  them  from  de 
stroying  all  the  Pueblo  tribes.  Jemez  and  Taos  suffered 
most.  But  Don  Diego  and  Pope  finally  routed  them  and 
drove  them  from  the  land. 

Quiet  seemed  to  take  possession  again,  when  Pope's 
oppressive  rule  suddenly  brought  matters  to  a  crisis. 
He  wanted  to  appropriate  the  wife  of  a  Tanos  governor. 
The  chief  objected  to  the  taking  of  his  life  partner; 
whereupon  Pope  had  him  immediately  put  to  death.  At 
once  the  Tanos  and  Tehuas  rebelled.  The  Queres,  Taos, 
and  Pecos  fought  them ;  but  were  driven  from  their  con 
fines.  The  Tehuas  and  Tanos  then  deposed  Pope  en 
tirely,  and  elected  (Luis)  Tupatu  in  his  place;  but  again 
in  1688  Pope  was  reflected  ruler  of  all  the  Pueblos  and 
peace  reigned.  Pope,  however,  soon  died,  and  Tupatu 
was  chosen  to  succeed  him. 

After  the  short  breathing  spell  of  peace,  there  fol 
lowed  civil  wars  again,  the  Yutes  and  Apaches  also  re 
suming  their  raids.  Many  Pueblos  were  abandoned; 
others  scattered;  and  some  changed  to  more  naturally 
fortified  positions.  The  Tanos  of  San  Cristobal  and 
San  Lorenzo,  south  of  Santa  Fe,  were  forced  by  the 
Queres,  Pecos,  and  Apaches  to  abandon  their  villages 
and  go  to  the  region  of  the  San  Juan.  The  remnants  of 
the  other  Tanos  villages  to  the  number  of  four  thousand 
went  to  Moqui ;  and,  overpowering  the  natives  of  Oraibe, 
took  possession  of  that  village  and  hold  it  to  this  day. 
Only  a  few  of  the  Tiguas  and  Jemez  survived,  a  few 
more  of  the  Tehuas  and  Taos.  The  Pecos,  on  account 
of  being  more  isolated  to  the  east  on  the  edge  of  the 


DON  DIEGO  185 

buffalo  plains,  fared  better.  The  Queres  within  the  walls 
of  Santa  Fe,  however,  were  safer  from  attack  and  suf 
fered  least  of  all. 

Even  the  gods  were  not  good  to  the  Pueblos.  For 
four  long  years  it  rained  not  a  drop  in  the  Rio  Grande 
embayment,  not  a  flake  of  snow  even  whitened  the 
mountain  tops.  The  Rio  Grande  and  confluences  became 
dry  and  crusted  with  white  alkali  salts.  A  great  meet 
ing  was  called  to  which  all  the  Pueblos  that  were  at  peace 
assembled.  For  days  and  days  they  danced  the  circular 
ghost  dance  and  mortified  their  bodies  to  make  it  rain. 
The  snakes  of  the  region  were  collected  and  the  snake 
dance  was  performed  on  an  elaborate  scale;  but  no  rain 
fell.  The  people  became  frantic :  would  the  gods  not  lis 
ten  to  them?  They  danced  themselves  to  complete  ex 
haustion,  in  many  cases  till  death  called  them  to  she-pa-pa. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  (Alonso)  Catite,  one  of  the  arch 
conspirators  against  the  Spaniards,  entered  an  estufa 
in  the  dance- field  to  sacrifice  to  his  gods,  and  there  danced 
so  hard  under  the  frenzied  excitement  that  he  "  sud 
denly  burst  "  (to  use  the  Spanish  account),  "  all  his  in 
testines  coming  out  in  the  sight  of  many  Indians." 
(Louis)  Cupavo,  another  leading  Indian  against  the 
Spaniards,  like  Catite,  died  by  bursting  his  bowels  in  this 
dance.  For  days  the  dancing  continued ;  but  not  a  cloud 
appeared  even  over  the  mountain  tops.  Finally  the 
dancing  ceased,  and  the  medicine  fraternity  went  into 
council. 

The  morning  following  ushered  in  a  new  set  of  scenes. 
In  an  open,  level  spot  near  the  dancing-field,  the  medi 
cine  men  congregated  the  motley  multitude.  Then  each 
medicine  man  [cacique]  gave  the  orders  for  the  day  in  a 


1 86  DON  DIEGO 

basic,  sale-crying  tone  in  his  own  language  to  his  respec 
tive  people.  And  such  a  medley,  such  a  babel  of  voices; 
but  differing  from  that  "  confusion  "  of  tongues  in  that 
far-away  biblical  time :  for  all  understood,  and  with  will 
ing  hands  proceeded  to  carry  out  the  orders.  Soon  all 
were  busy  from  the  little  tots  that  could  scarcely  tod 
dle  to  the  aged,  decrepit,  whom  the  storms  of  life  had 
bent  nearly  to  a  prostrate  position.  From  the  neighbor 
ing  hills  every  bowlder  and  loose  rock  was  collected  and 
carried  into  the  valley.  Here  men  were  busy  putting 
them  in  position.  A  solid  block  in  cylindrical  form, 
some  thirty  feet  in  diameter,  was  quickly  erected  to  a 
height  of  about  twelve  feet;  a  mixture  of  adobe  clay, 
blood,  sand,  salt,  ashes,  and  chipped  straw  was  the  mor 
tar  used.  It  was  near  night  when  the  structure  was 
completed,  with  upper  face  of  mortar,  so  smoothed  with 
the  hand  that  it  might  have  been  said  to  be  a  polished  sur 
face,  which  sloped  gently  eastward. 

That  night  and  the  next  night  also,  while  the  mortar 
was  hardening,  all  slept  but  the  medicine  men.  These 
were  continually  occupied  in  praying,  sprinkling  the  sa 
cred  dusts  and  stroking  medicine  curios.  On  the  second 
day  a  solid  rectangular  structure,  some  five  feet  in  length 
and  three  feet  in  width,  was  raised  to  an  elevation  of 
about  forty  inches  in  the  center  of  the  disk-like  top  of 
the  structure,  they  had  previously  made.  This  was  made 
of  stone  and  mortar  also;  but  the  rocks  composing  it 
were  heated  so  that  the  mortar  used  in  making  it  would 
soon  dry.  When  completed,  its  surface  also  sloped  to 
ward  the  morning  sun,  and  was  rubbed  to  a  semi-pol 
ished  state  on  its  surface. 

Night  again  came  and  went  without  anything  of  note 


DON  DIEGO  187 

happening;  but  the  following  day  found  everybody  busy. 
The  non-medicinal  fraternity  present  gathered  all  the 
combustible  material  that  could  be  found  in  the  vicinity 
and  put  it  in  great  stacks,  where  it  could  be  easily  obtained 
when  needed.  The  medicinal  fraternity  were  also  busy. 
At  the  rising  of  the  sun,  they  whitewashed  the  entire 
structure  they  had  erected  till  it  was  as  white  as  the 
whitest  linen.  When  this  had  dried  in  the  blazing  sun, 
they  set  about  to  draw  symbolic  designs  on  its  surface. 
On  its  cylindrical-lateral  face,  they  drew  scenes  of  the 
hunt,  the  dance,  and  field  scenes ;  lightnings,  snakes,  and 
clouds.  On  its  upper  disk-face  they  also  drew  symbols 
of  the  sun  and  moon,  the  steps  from  earth  to  heaven,  the 
greater  and  lesser  star  deities,  the  household  gods,  the 
various  sand-paintings  used  in  the  secret  religious  per 
formances,  and  a  life-size  painting  of  Pest-ya-sode, 
attired  in  the  full  regalia  of  a  Pueblo  cacique  and  war- 
chief.  The  sides  of  the  central,  raised  portion  they  dec 
orated  with  drawings  of  the  animals  considered  sacred 
by  the  pueblos.  Then  on  its  upper,  sloping  face,  they 
made  a  painting  of  the  god  of  day,  with  red  disk,  from 
which  wavy,  alternating  yellow  and  red  rays  extended. 
From  these,  "  thunder  darts  "  also  extended  toward  the 
semi-cardinal  points.  Then  around  the  whole  were 
drawn  the  great  footprints  of  the  First  Brother  of  the 
village  tribes.  On  the  upper  disk-surface  of  the  column 
were  then  placed  the  fetishes  and  things  of  medicine,  in 
cluding  tobacco  pouches  made  of  the  skins  of  white  men. 
Then  over  all  were  sprinkled  the  dusts  of  the  gods,  as 
they  prayed  loud  and  earnestly  to  the  deities.  The 
altar-making  was  thus  completed. 

Night  came  on,  and  the  big  drum  proclaimed  the  be- 


i88  DON  DIEGO 

ginning  of  the  culminating  ceremonies.  Instantly  from 
every  side  there  was  shouting,  calling,  whistling,  as  all 
rushed  forward  from  the  darkness  to  join  in  the  dance 
in  the  light  of  the  circular  fire  that  encircled  the  altar- 
column  at  a  distance  of  some  twenty  feet  from  it.  Hands 
they  clasped  by  entwining  the  fingers,  and  from  left  to 
right  in  a  great  circle  around  the  column  and  the  fire, 
they  began  to  dance,  first  slowly,  then  with  increasing 
speed  to  the  time  of  the  music.  Louder  and  louder  and 
more  earnestly  the  chanters  chanted;  harder  and  harder 
and  faster  and  faster  the  drums  were  beaten ;  and  more 
and  more  vigorously  did  the  dancers  stamp,  as  the  hours 
passed.  After  some  two  hours  the  hands  were  freed; 
and,  from  that  on,  wild  gesticulating  and  the  wrying  of 
the  face  intensified  the  dance  movement.  The  moon 
rose  high  over  the  valley;  the  moon  was  at  the  full. 

The  next  day  it  rained  throughout  the  region ;  and  the 
night  following  the  water  again  ran  in  the  Rio  Grande. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  scene  is  transferred  to  another  quarter.  A 
lone  woman  was  seen  to  run  hither  and  thither 
over  the  parched  desert  sand  trying  to  reach  her  home, 
but  had  lost  her  way.  Afraid  of  being  captured,  she  hid 
herself  behind  some  obstruction  at  the  least  noise.  Some 
men  on  horseback  chased  her;  but  she  escaped  capture 
by  prostrating  herself  prone  upon  the  brown  earth,  they 
riding  past  her  and  on  into  a  pifion  wood.  One  day 
passed,  two  days,  and  not  a  drop  of  water  to  drink  or  a 
mouthful  of  anything  to  eat;  for  she  was  weaponless 
and  in  the  barren  desert.  She  wore  the  skin  off  the 
soles  of  her  feet  till  she  left  blood  in  her  tracks.  Yet 
when  a  lone  horseman  passed  by  near  her  she  hid  herself 
in  a  gulch. 

After  satisfying  herself  that  she  was  not  longer  pur 
sued,  she  began  to  examine  her  surroundings  carefully. 
Oh,  joy !  there  was  a  sparkling  spring  of  water.  Quickly 
she  rushed  to  it;  and,  famishing,  she  thrust  her  mouth 
and  face  into  the  water  and  took  one  big  swallow  of  it, 
but  jerked  her  head  up  quickly:  the  water  was  strongly 
mineralized  with  epsom  salts.  Though  unfit  to  drink,  she 
bathed  herself  in  a  pool  near  by  and  also  dipped  her 
clothes  in  it  and  then  put  them  on  while  wet,  conse 
quently  absorbing  a  small  quantity  of  water  through  the 
skin.  While  she  was  dressing,  she  saw  a  cactus  grow 
ing  a  little  way  off.  Going  to  it,  she  found  it  covered 

189 


190  DON  DIEGO 

with  prickly  pears  of  the  sour  type.  Some  of  these  ap 
ples  she  quickly  picked  and,  rubbing  them  in  the  sand 
to  remove  the  spines,  soon  had  sufficient  fruit  to  satisfy 
her  hunger;  and,  as  the  fruit  contained  a  great  quantity 
of  juicy-watery  substance,  her  thirst  was  also  allayed 
for  a  time. 

The  sun  had  advanced  far  on  his  western  journey  the 
next  day  when  she  awoke;  for  she  had  fallen  asleep  as 
soon  as  she  had  satisfied  her  hunger.  She  arose;  ate 
some  more  cactus  apples;  and  taking  off  a  part  of  her 
mania  dress,  also  tied  up  some  of  the  fruit  in  it  and 
took  it  with  her.  All  the  rest  of  the  day  she  traveled  in 
the  burning  heat,  arriving  at  sundown  at  the  identical 
spot  from  which  she  had  started  in  the  morning.  She 
was  evidently  lost  and  she  now  knew  that  she  was. 
Seeing  that  she  was  lost,  she  sat  down  and  cried,  as  is 
the  custom  of  womankind. 

That  night,  the  next  night  and  the  next  day  she  re 
mained  at  this  place  and  ate  of  the  sour  cactus  fruit  till 
it  was  all  gone  and  her  mouth  and  lips  were  all  sore  on 
account  of  the  acid  nature  of  the  pear. 

Night  again  came  and  she  tried  to  travel  eastward 
toward  her  home,  using  the  North  Star  as  a  guide;  and 
in  this  she  had  some  success :  for  she  did  not  return  to 
the  bitter  spring  again.  Morning  brought  her  to  another 
spring,  a  spring  of  good  fresh  water.  From  this  she 
drank  till  her  thirst  was  quenched.  Here  she  also  found 
some  cactus  fruit,  which  proved  to  be  of  the  sweet 
flavored  kind.  So  she  satisfied  her  hunger  and  also 
gathered  some  of  the  fruit  to  take  with  her.  Fain  would 
she  have  also  carried  some  water  with  her  if  she  had 


DON  DIEGO  191 

had  an  Olla.     Resting  a  few  minutes,  she  again  resumed 
her  journey  toward  where  she  had  seen  the  sun  rise. 

As  she  was  slowly  wending  her  way,  she  casually 
picked  up  a  stick,  shaped  somewhat  like  the  rabbit-clubs 
she  had  used  in  the  sacred  hunts.  As  she  was  carrying 
it,  a  jack  rabbit  jumped  out  of  a  clump  of  bush  ahead 
of  her;  and,  instantly,  before  she  had  had  time  to  think, 
she  had  hurled  the  club  and  broken  the  animal's  neck 
with  it.  She  then  had  a  meal  of  raw  meat;  she  was 
too  hungry  to  stop  to  make  a  fire ;  for  making  a  fire  was 
a  slow  process  in  those  times.  Again  she  fell  asleep. 

Sometime  in  the  night  she  was  rudely  awakened  by 
something  running  over  her.  Looking  about,  she  saw 
many  eyes  shining  in  the  darkness.  At  once  she  took 
in  the  situation.  Some  coyotes  having  smelled  the  fresh 
meat  that  had  been  left  of  the  rabbit,  were  here  to  get 
their  share  of  it;  and  under  the  circumstances,  she 
thought  it  best  to  let  them  have  it,  she  fleeing  the  place 
to  keep  from  making  a  meal  for  them  herself.  Before 
she  had  gone  far,  however,  she  found  that  the  whole 
pack  was  following  her,  the  rabbit  only  sharpening  their 
appetites.  She  broke  into  a  brisk  run,  but  the  beasts 
soon  gained  on  her.  Twice  they  snapped  at  her  at  such 
close  quarters  that  they  tore  her  dress.  At  the  same 
time  other  coyotes  also  began  to  yelp  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  in  the  direction  she  was  running,  evidently  other 
wolves  coming  to  get  a  mouthful  of  the  expected  break 
fast.  Suddenly  a  juniper  tree  appeared  in  view.  With 
one  great  effort  she  reached  it  and  clambered  upon  its 
lowest  limb  just  out  of  reach,  as  the  first  wolves  came  up 
and  began  to  snap  at  her.  She  took  a  long  breath  while 


192  DON  DIEGO 

the  wolves  howled.  She  felt  herself  quite  safe,  when 
suddenly  the  limb  cracked,  snapped  off,  it  being  old  and 
dead.  She  seized  a  limb  above  her  with  both  hands,  but 
before  she  could  climb  up  to  it  her  support  left  her  and 
she  found  herself  swinging  in  mid  air,  with  angry  wolves 
surging  and  charging  beneath  in  vain  attempts  to  be  the 
first  to  tear  out  a  portion  of  her  flesh  when  she  fell ;  one 
of  the  wolves  jumped  so  high  that  he  succeeded  in  tear 
ing  a  rent  in  the  lower  part  of  her  dress  and  another 
wolf  cut  the  skin  on  her  left  foot.  But  she  had  many 
days  yet  to  live.  When  a  virgin,  she  had  practiced  the 
game  which  country  schoolboys  generally  term  "  skin 
ning  a  cat." 

At  this  moment  she  brought  this  knowledge  into  good 
use,  of  how  to  lift  and  pitch  her  body.  The  limb  she  now 
had  a  firm  hold  on  was  three  inches  through  and  was 
green  and  strong.  Over  it  by  pure  muscular  strength 
she  pitched  her  body  in  a  movement  reverse  to  that  of 
diving.  Then  she  climbed  upon  the  limb  and  sat  on  it 
over  against  the  tree.  She  now  was  safe  from  the 
wolves  —  let  them  howl. 

She  had  sat  on  the  limb  only  a  short  space  of  time,  when 
she  was  apprised  of  the  fact  that  she  was  trespassing. 
It  was  the  home  of  a  large  eyed  screech  owl ;  and  he  pro 
ceeded  to  advise  the  intruder  of  the  fact  in  commanding 
tones.  An  Indian  is  deathly  afraid  of  an  owl.  They 
believe  that  when  it  hoots  it  is  calling  someone  to  die. 
That  it  is  itself  "  death,"  is  believed  by  many  tribes.  At 
the  first  screech  of  this  bird,  Geetlu,  for  the  wandering 
woman  was  the  lost  Geetlu,  almost  lost  her  hold  on  the 
tree  and  limb.  She,  however,  gained  a  firm  hold  again ; 
and,  gritting  her  teeth,  sat  there  trembling  between  the 


DON  DIEGO  193 

hereditary  death-bird  and  the  certain  death  beneath  her, 
should  she  fall. 

Morning  came;  the  coyotes  disappeared;  and  she  re 
sumed  her  journey  still  to  the  eastward,  she  thought. 
Toward  night  she  saw  great  trees  lying  on  the  ground 
ahead  of  her;  and,  having  killed  another  rabbit  and  also 
a  sage  hen,  she  decided  to  make  a  fire  and  broil  some 
of  the  meat,  then  to  sleep  by  the  fire  at  night  so  that  the 
wild  animals  would  not  molest  her.  She  quickened  her 
pace  at  the  sight  of  the  prostrate  trees.  It  made  her 
think  of  the  great  firs  of  the  Jemez  plateau.  As  she 
proceeded,  she  also  saw  a  small  stream  of  water  ahead 
of  her.  She  came  to  the  first  giant  trunk  that  lay  in 
her  path  and  attempted  to  remove  the  outer  bark  to  get 
some  of  the  inner,  finer  fibers  with  which  to  kindle  the 
fire.  When  to  her  surprise  the  tree  was  found  to  be 
solid  rock.  She  was  in  the  petrified  forest.  Around 
her  lay  the  trees  of  another  earth-age,  likely  having  been 
submerged  in  a  lake  of  siliceously  saturated  water  that 
was  kept  heated  by  volcanic  ejections  and  earth-crust 
disturbances  of  that  far-away  time  till  they  were  turned 
to  stone.  She  had  heard  the  myth  about  these  trees  in 
her  home  land:  of  how  the  goddess  Arizona  brought  a 
curse  on  the  place  and  turned  the  trees  to  rock;  because 
she  once  tried  to  light  a  fire  in  the  region  and,  it  having 
rained  that  day  so  that  everything  was  damp,  she  could 
not  get  a  thing  to  burn.  Wearing  out  her  patience,  she 
mounted  a  large  fallen  tree  and  blowing  a  hissing  breath 
over  the  region,  exclaimed :  "  From  now  on  for  all 
days  and  all  nights,  there  shall  not  a  piece  of  this  giant 
timber  ever  be  burned."  Instantly  it  all  fell  down,  rock 
as  it  is  to-day. 


194  DON  DIEGO 

While  Geetlu  was  gazing  absent-mindedly  at  this  freak 
of  nature,  her  eye  suddenly  caught  a  glimpse  of  some 
moving  object  on  the  horizon.  Quickly  she  hid  herself 
between  two  of  the  huge  trunks,  throwing  herself  flat 
on  the  ground  as  she  had  done  previously  when  she 
thought  she  was  pursued.  She  had  not  been  concealed 
long  when  she  heard  voices;  and,  from  their  increasing 
in  volume,  she  could  easily  tell  that  the  people  who  were 
talking  were  approaching  the  very  spot  where  she  was. 
She  gathered  herself  into  a  stooping  position  and  looked 
over  the  broken  edge  of  one  of  the  trees.  They  were 
Apache  warriors,  she  knew.  They  were  tracking  her. 
With  a  bound,  she  leaped  from  her  place  of  concealment 
and  made  off  in  the  direction  opposite  from  which  the 
warriors  were  coming.  With  a  whoop,  the  whole  band 
joined  in  the  chase.  The  lone  woman  screamed  and  ran 
like  a  demon,  but  the  warriors  gained  upon  her.  Some 
of  them  also  swung  around  in  a  circle  to  her  front  to 
prevent  her  entering  a  bushy  wood  that  covered  the  sides 
of  a  small  ravine.  Exhausting  her  strength  and  seeing 
that  she  could  not  escape,  she  threw  herself  on  her  back 
on  the  ground  and  breathlessly  waited  to  be  put  to  death. 
But  the  warriors  wished  not  to  kill  her.  They  seized 
upon  her  person  and,  tying  her  hands,  motioned  for  her 
to  accompany  them;  but  she  refused  to  arise  and  also 
moved  her  head  to  one  side  for  them  to  decapitate  her: 
she  was  a  Pueblo  and  cared  not  to  be  an  Apache  slave. 
But  they  wished  not  to  put  her  to  death  then,  so  forced 
her  to  accompany  them. 

It  was  over  a  long  and  strange  trail  they  took  her. 
The  Apaches  were  homeward  bound.  They  crossed  the 
desert  area  and  entered  what  is  now  known  as  the  Black 


DON  DIEGO  195 

Mesa  Forest  Reserve.  Thence  on  southward  past  the 
site  of  the  present  town  of  Sho  Low  and  on  into  what 
is  now  the  Fort  Apache  Indian  Reservation,  following, 
roughly,  the  same  route  that  Coronado  had  followed  in 
1540  and  the  route  of  the  present  Holbrook-Fort  Apache 
wagon  road.  Reaching  the  edge  of  the  Black  Mesa, 
Geetlu's  feet  gave  completely  out  on  account  of  the  "  mal 
pais  "  (bad  country),  lava  covering  the  country  there. 
So  the  warriors  halted  a  day  and  let  her  rest.  In  the 
meantime  they  killed  several  deer  for  food.  Also  from 
the  skin  of  one  of  the  animals  they  made  a  pair  of  moc 
casins  for  the  captive.  The  next  day  they  resumed  their 
journey.  Soon  the  surging  waters  of  the  North  Fork 
of  White  River  could  be  distinctly  heard  in  the  deep 
canon  where  it  makes  its  bold  bend  southward  on  its 
journey  from  the  White  Mountains  and  Green  Point  to 
join  its  master  stream.  On  they  journeyed  with  the 
river  to  the  left.  The  valley  broadened,  as  did  the 
bench  they  were  on;  and  the  timber  became  less  tall  as 
they  descended.  Over  tavertine  deposits  that  had  a  hol 
low  sound  as  they  walked  over  them,  they  wended  a 
part  of  their  way.  Ruined  villages  of  former  Pueblo 
greatness  were  passed  over  now  and  then,  some  in  horse 
shoe  shape,  some  in  rectangular  form.  At  last  they 
reached  the  forks  of  the  river  where  Fort  Apache  is  now 
situated.  It  was  night  when  they  arrived  at  the  Indian 
settlement  there  and  all,  even  the  captive,  slept  soundly. 
Just  as  the  first  streak  of  light  entered  the  valley, 
Geetlu  awoke.  At  first  she  could  not  recollect  where  she 
was  and  how  she  got  there.  They  were  in  a  low 
tepee  thatched  with  rushes,  cat-tail  flags,  and  yucca  leaves. 
Near  her  the  household  accouterments  of  the  family  were 


196  DON  DIEGO 

promiscuously  piled;  while  around  the  central,  low  fire 
the  inmates  of  the  wigwam  were  yet  sleeping.  She 
arose  and  went  to  the  river  and  bathed  herself,  then 
returned  to  take  a  view  of  the  surrounding  country. 
And  she  found  it  more  beautiful  than  she  had  expected. 
To  the  eastward,  the  sun,  the  fond  object  of  Indian  wor 
ship  in  that  southwestern  country,  was  apparently  resting 
his  fiery  chin  on  the  snow-covered  peaks  of  Mounts  Ord 
and  Thomas  of  the  White  Mountains ;  while  he  was  send 
ing  his  fingered  rays  down  the  valley  of  the  East  Fork 
of  White  River  to  the  hills  beyond  where  the  observer 
was  standing.  To  the  north  were  bisected  and  tongue- 
like,  red  and  yellow  walled  mesas,  capped  with  black 
basaltic  lava.  To  the  south  for  a  distance  of  forty  miles 
stretched  the  black-capped,  lava-covered  Nantan  mesa. 
To  the  south  west  ward  ran  the  main  trunk  of  W'hite  River, 
amid  perpendicular,  basaltic  walls  to  join  its  master 
stream,  the  Black- Salt  River  that  goes  on  south  west  ward 
to  be  overcome  by  the  Gila  desert.  To  the  westward 
across  a  flat  area  of  some  miles  in  extent,  extending  on 
westward  past  the  southern  tongue-like  prolongation  of 
the  Mogollon  mesa  at  this  point,  loomed  up  in  the  back 
ground  the  Kelley  Butte  series  of  volcanic  plugs,  now 
quiet  and  picturesque. 

Absorbed  in  viewing  the  scenery,  she  was  startled  by 
a  woman  speaking  to  her,  calling  her  by  her  own  name. 
Then  she  remembered  that  she  had  tried  to  make  her 
captors  understand  that  her  name  was  Geetlu  and  that  she 
was  a  Jemez  Indian,  and  by  her  motions  they  had,  at 
least,  understood  what  her  name  was.  The  woman  mo 
tioned  to  her  in  the  sign  language  to  prepare  breakfast, 
first  giving  her  a  basket  and  by  motions  making  her  un- 


DON  DIEGO  197 

derstand  that  she  must  first  get  some  wood.  This  she 
readily  understood  and  went  and  got  the  wood  and,  later, 
the  breakfast. 

After  the  breakfast  was  served,  the  men  eating  all  they 
wished,  the  women  and  girls  waiting  and  then  eating 
what  was  left,  she  was  made  to  understand  that  she  was 
to  be  the  wife  of  one  of  the  men,  a  man  named  Kilpe. 
He  had  but  one  eye,  was  rather  old,  was  quite  wrinkled, 
and  had  a  large,  disfiguring  scar  covering  the  greater 
part  of  the  left  side  of  his  face.  His  complexion  was 
dark.  He  was  one  of  the  laziest  men  of  the  tribe,  an  in 
veterate  gambler  and  a  confirmed  drunkard.  He  had 
been  married  many  times,  but  was  then  without  a  wife, 
as  he  had  so  mistreated  his  women  that  no  Apache  would 
now  sell  his  daughter  or  relative  to  him.  But  this  cap 
tive  had  no  friends ;  he  had  the  price ;  and  she  was  his. 

She  saw  the  transfer  made,  saw  her  captors  receive 
the  trinkets  sufficient  to  cover  her  purchase ;  and,  though 
women  were  not  bought  and  sold  at  Jemez,  she  under 
stood  the  transaction.  There  was  nothing  left  but  to  be 
the  wife  of  her  purchaser.  Every  ounce  of  her  rebelled 
but  it  was  useless.  She  had  not  a  friend  in  the  region ; 
and  open  rebellion  meant  the  stake ;  possibly  at  some  time 
she  might  get  a  chance  to  run  away  from  the  place.  Re 
luctantly  she  followed  him  to  his  hovel,  carrying  his  be 
longings  in  a  basket  at  her  back. 

Arriving  at  the  tepee,  he  made  her  understand  by  signs 
that  she  was  to  gather  some  wood  from  a  near-by  tim 
bered  district.  This  being  done,  he  then  compelled  her 
to  go  to  his  cornfield  and  gather  corn  for  him  and  carry 
it  to  the  tepee.  She  then  carried  more  wood  and  some 
water  and  prepared  the  evening  meal.  She  afterwards  sat 


198  DON  DIEGO 

in  a  corner  of  the  tepee  with  her  back  to  him  while  he 
and  his  friends  ate  every  morsel  of  food  she  had  cooked. 
Then  to  round  out  the  first  day  of  married  life  to  show 
his  spouse  that  she  was  his  slave,  he  gave  her  a  thorough 
beating.  Thus  the  days  came  and  went.  And  years. 

A  few  days  after  Geetlu  entered  Apachedom,  some 
women  invited  her  to  go  with  them  to  gather  mescal 
[Agava,  related  to  the  century  plant].  Willing  to  do 
anything  to  get  away  from  her  cruel  husband,  she  went 
with  them.  They  left  the  camp  at  the  forks  of  the  river 
and  went  northwestward  through  the  Kelley  Butte  gap 
to  Cedar  creek  by  Sugar-Loaf  peak  near  the  confluence 
of  this  creek  with  Carrixo  creek.  From  there  they  jour 
neyed  southwestward  over  the  mesa  tops  till  they  came 
to  the  Carrixo  canon  itself,  opposite  the  warm  springs, 
which  gush  up  from  the  canon  depths  and  form  warm 
pools  for  the  wild  ducks  and  geese  to  bathe  in  in  winter. 

Here  they  threw  their  basket-loads  down ;  for  that  is 
all  there  is  of  camping  with  an  Apache.  Then  they  set 
about  to  gather  some  of  the  mescal  tubers.  Throughout 
one  whole  day  they  gathered  these  from  far  and  near, 
from  mesa  ridge,  and  hog-back,  the  new  woman  being 
compelled  to  carry  the  tubers  to  the  place  of  camping. 
That  night  they  slept  on  the  bare  ground,  digging  out  a 
hollow  for  the  back  and  hips  to  lie  in. 

The  next  morning  Geetlu  arose  more  tired  than  when 
she  lay  down,  but  another  hard  day's  work  was  before 
her.  With  the  other  women,  she  carried  to  the  camp 
all  the  fallen  trees  and  dead  limbs  she  could  find.  Then 
while  the  other  women  rested,  she  was  compelled  to  dig 
a  pit  in  which  to  make  a  fire  to  cook  the  tubers.  She 
got  the  pit  completed.  Then  for  a  few  minutes  she  got 


DON  DIEGO  199 

a  chance  to  rest,  as  she  did  not  know  how  to  make  a  fire 
by  the  crude  method  used  by  the  Apaches.  This  she 
afterwards  learned.  As  she  sat  there  and  rested,  one 
of  the  Indian  women  took  a  cedar  "  spinning  stick " 
some  two  feet  long  and,  producing  a  dry  mescal  stalk, 
began  to  drill  rapidly  on  its  upper  face,  so  that  the  drill 
would  cut  through  one  edge  of  the  stalk  as  it  proceeded 
in  its  downward  movement.  Rapidly  and  more  rapidly 
she  drilled,  the  drilled  particles  falling  on  some  fine,  very 
dry  inner  fibers  of  cedar  bark.  Soon  the  released  par 
ticles  began  to  smoke;  and,  by  the  time  she  had  drilled 
through  the  stalk,  particles  of  live  coals  could  be  seen 
among  the  drillings.  The  woman  then  vigorously  and 
cautiously  blew  her  breath  on  the  material  till  it  blazed 
-  the  whole  process  taking  less  than  seven  minutes. 
Soon  they  had  a  huge  fire.  Then  there  were  other  things 
to  do. 

Rocks  were  carried  in  great  numbers  and  piled  on  the 
burning  mass.  While  the  fire  burned,  Geetlu  and  another 
woman  went  to  the  creek  to  get  some  water,  each  carry 
ing  a  five-gallon  tus  at  the  back,  a  strap  passing  from 
each  side  of  it  across  the  forehead;  the  tus,  or  water 
jug,  was  a  basket  woven  in  jug- shape,  it  being  made 
water-tight  by  being  daubed  both  within  and  without 
with  pinon  pitch.  They  came  to  the  brink  of  the  canon 
in  which  the  tiny  stream  ran;  down  it  they  went  for 
a  mile  or  more  till  they  found  a  place  where  they  could 
descend.  Then  down  over  the  rough-edged  rocks  they 
clambered  for  five  hundred  feet  in  vertical  section  to  the 
water's  edge.  They  then  quenched  their  thirst  first  by 
drinking  of  the  cooling  waters  from  a  gourd  cup.  They 
dipped  the  jugs  in  the  current  where  it  was  deep  enough 


200  DON  DIEGO 

to  cover  them,  and  lifting  them  out  of  the  water,  made 
stoppers  of  hay  and  small  willow  brush  and  corked  their 
respective  tus.  The  next  thing  was  to  put  the  jug  in 
position  at  the  back  for  carrying.  This  Geetlu  could  not 
do,  though  she  tried  time  and  again  to  do  so.  The  other 
woman,  who  had  already  put  her  jug  in  position,  had 
started  to  leave,  when,  on  looking  back,  she  noticed 
the  predicament  her  companion  was  in.  So  she  came  and 
gave  the  needed  aid.  As  she  did  so,  she  noticed  that 
Geetlu  was  trembling  from  exhaustion;  but  she  said  not 
a  word.  They  started  to  climb.  The  Apache  woman, 
who  was  called  Bedessendaha  by  her  people,  soon  reached 
the  summit  of  the  mesa ;  but  Geetlu  was  yet  only  barely 
started.  The  load  was  more  than  she  could  bear  up  such 
a  steep  and  rocky  road.  The  other  woman  set  her  jug 
down  and  returned  to  Geetlu  and  relieved  her  of  her 
burden,  carrying  it  up  the  steep  incline  herself.  When 
they  had  reached  the  level  mesa  top,  Bedessendaha  and 
Geetlu  sat  down  and  looked  at  each  other  as  they  rested ; 
for  as  yet  the  latter  could  not  converse  in  the  Apache 
language.  As  they  thus  sat  there,  the  Apache  woman 
made  Geetlu  understand  by  signs  that  she  must  not  work 
so  hard.  Being  rested,  they  returned  to  the  camp,  and 
the  rest  of  the  day  Geetlu  was  not  called  upon  to  do  any 
work. 

The  work  of  preparing  the  mescal  went  on.  The  fire 
burned  down  till  only  live  coals  and  red  hot  rock  were 
left  in  the  pit.  On  these,  wet  grass  was  quickly  placed 
and  on  it  the  tubers  were  piled.  Then  wet  grass  over  all, 
then  rock  again,  then  earth  to  a  thickness  of  about  six 
inches.  Over  all  this  wood  was  piled  and  ignited.  This 
being  done,  the  women  rested  till  after  the  sun  had  gone 


DON  DIEGO  201 

down.  Then  their  husbands  joined  them  and  all  danced 
the  night  away,  dancing  around  the  fire  while  the  m-escal 
baked.  Morning  came,  the  mescal  was  removed  from 
the  rock- furnace  to  cool,  while  the  dancers  snatched  a 
little  sleep. 

About  the  middle  of  the  forenoon  they  awoke;  ate  a 
breakfast  of  dried  venison  and  mescal  —  mescal  thus 
baked  tastes  somewhat  like  squash  that  has  been  slightly 
burned  in  the  cooking.  After  the  hurried  breakfast, 
the  women  packed  up  the  things;  put  them  in  their  bas 
kets  together  with  the  cooked  mescal;  swinging  the 
baskets  to  their  backs,  they  set  out  for  home,  the  men 
following  leisurely  without  a  burden  of  any  kind. 

They  arrived  at  the  encampment  at  the  forks  of  the 
river  in  due  time,  tired,  very  tired.  For  a  day  they 
rested,  all  feasting  on  the  mescal.  As  soon  as  rested, 
they  finished  gathering  the  corn.  The  corn  being  jerked 
and  piled,  the  ripest  was  husked,  dried  in  the  sun,  shelled, 
and  buried  in  a  small  pit  for  future  use.  The  green 
corn  was  piled  by  itself  when  jerked;  and  when  the  husk 
ing  of  the  ripe  corn  was  completed,  it  was  baked  in  a 
pit,  similar  to  the  mescal  baking.  Winter  was  now  at 
hand  and  the  next  thing  was  to  re-thatch  the  tepees;  the 
medicine  man  had  them  moved  as  far  from  water  and 
wood  as  possible  so  that  the  squaws  would  be  sure  to  be 
kept  busy  in  the  non-agricultural  season. 

As  the  time  passed  on,  Geetlu  learned  considerable  of 
the  Apache  language;  and,  with  the  woman  who  had 
befriended  her  when  going  for  the  mescal,  she  spent 
many  pleasant  moments,  while  grinding  corn,  making  In 
dian  whisky,  skinning  and  tanning  hides,  and  broiling 
venison,  as  their  husbands  came  home  laden  with  the 


202  DON  DIEGO 

spoils  of  the  hunt.  Occasionally,  they  had  a  spare  mo 
ment  to  themselves,  when  their  husbands  were  engaged 
in  the  chase  or  off  gambling  with  other  men.  At  these 
times  Geetlu  and  her  companion  and  friend,  Bedessen- 
daha,  joined  the  other  women;  and  like  all  good  Apache 
squaws  they  played  the  game  of  Setdilth,  as  they  gos 
siped,  betting  on  the  game,  of  course,  as  all  good  In 
dians  do,  betting  their  wearing  material  and  household 
wears  and  personal  trinkets. 

This  game,  then  as  now,  was  played  by  the  women 
only.  The  requisites  of  this  game  are  the  game  field  — 
including  its  rock  circle,  the  counting  sticks,  and  the 
three  setdilth  sticks  used  in  playing  the  game. 

The  game  field  is  a  circular,  leveled  spot  of  ground 
some  six  or  seven  feet  in  diameter,  inclosed  in  a  circle 
of  forty  cobble-stones;  these  are  arranged  in  groups  of 
ten  stones  each,  a  group  being  placed  opposite  each  of  the 
semi-cardinal  directions.  These  rocks  are  the  tallies ;  an 
entire  circle  of  forty  tallies  constitute  a  game.  In  ad 
dition  to  the  tally-cobbles,  a  large  flat  rock  occupies  the 
center  of  the  field.  On  this  are  hurled  the  setdilth  sticks 
on  their  mission  of  chance,  as  is  described  later. 

The  counting  sticks  are  small  sticks  of  any  sort,  a 
straw  or  a  blade  of  grass  answering  for  the  purpose  just 
as  well.  They  are  used  in  marking  the  tallies  gained. 
One  of  these  is  placed  between  the  last  rock-tally  and 
the  next  cobble  in  the  direction  the  player  is  moving. 

The  setdilth  sticks  are  three  in  number.  Each  is  a 
foot  in  length  and  the  half  of  a  green  limb  or  a  willow 
shrub  of  about  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  bark  is  left 
on  the  rounded  surface;  its  split  face  is  marked  with 
charcoal  in  a  broad  diagonal  line  across  its  center.  When 


DON  DIEGO 


203 


used  in  playing,  these  sticks  are  all  held  in  the  hand  in 
vertical  position  at  the  same  time  and  are  hurled  edge 
wise  upon  the  center  rock  to  fall  whichever  way  the 
fates  may  direct. 


The  Setdilth  Game  Field,  showing  the  rock-circle  and  the  counting 
sticks  in  place.  The  Setdilth  sticks  in  the  inclosed  space  have 
so  fallen  that  the  thrower  received  two  points. 

The  faces  of  the  setdilth  sticks  that  are  up  after  the 
sticks  have  fallen  decide  the  points  gained  in  the  throw. 
If  one  split  face  is  up,  it  counts  two  points;  if  two  split 
faces,  three  points;  if  all  three  split  faces,  five  points; 
and  if  three  bark-covered  faces  are  up,  ten  points  and  the 
player  has  another  throw  of  the  sticks. 


204  DON  DIEGO 

Marking  the  points  gained. —  Usually  four  persons 
play  this  game.  The  opposite  players  are  partners.  In 
playing,  the  opponents  move  the  counting  sticks  around 
the  stone  circle  in  opposite  directions,  all  starting  at  the 
same  point  and  each  moving  her  own  counting  stick, 
whether  she  has  a  partner  or  not.  An  equal  number  of 
rocks  in  the  circle  are  counted  for  the  points  gained ;  and 
the  counting  stick  is  moved  forward  to  the  position  be 
tween  the  last  rock-tally  gained  and  the  next  cobble 
stone  in  the  direction  the  player  is  moving.  Should  a 
counting  stick  chance  to  be  placed  in  the  space  between 
two  rocks  that  an  opponent's  counting  stick  is  occupy 
ing,  the  opponent's  counting  stick,  that  is,  the  first  one 
occupying  the  space,  is  taken  up ;  and  its  owner  must  be 
gin  the  game  anew.  When  a  counting  stick  has  marked 
forty  successive  tallies,  that  is,  has  completed  the  entire 
circle,  its  owner  has  the  game  and  the  staked  property. 

Geetlu  watched  them  play  this  game  a  great  deal  be 
fore  she  could  be  persuaded  to  attempt  to  play  it  herself. 
Finally  one  day  Bedessendaha  persuaded  her  to  be  her 
partner.  So  they  commenced  the  game.  Geetlu  did  the 
best  she  could;  but  lost  and  caused  her  partner  to  lose 
also.  They  had  staked  some  turquois ;  and  the  opponents 
won  them.  Geetlu  felt  very  sorry  about  this  loss;  for 
the  beads  were  hers,  the  only  thing  she  had  left  to  re 
member  her  childhood  home  and  the  husband  she  longed 
for  but  never  expected  to  see. 

That  night  she  lay  awake  and  studied  the  game. 
Morning  came  and  she  had  every  move  planned.  In  the 
hours  following,  she  practiced  throwing  the  sticks  till 
she  could  throw  them  as  planned.  That  afternoon  she 
went  again  to  the  little  sheltered,  grassy  spot  where  the 


DON  DIEGO  205 

other  women  were  already  gambling  on  the  game.  As 
she  approached  the  place,  a  smile  spread  over  the  faces 
of  the  players;  for  they  thought  that  now  since  she  had 
been  induced  to  play  they  would  get  all  her  private  be 
longings. 

"  Come,  play,"  shouted  a  chorus  of  voices.  "  Let  us 
play  first  with  you,"  said  two  of  the  players,  Bent  and 
Lupe,  who  were  already  seated  in  position  facing  each 
other  across  the  stone  circle. 

Geetlu  looked  at  them  a  moment ;  then  said :  "  I  do 
not  wish  to  play;  but  if  Bedessendaha  will  be  my  partner 
again,  I  will  try  it." 

They  sat  down  and  went  to  playing,  Geetlu  playing 
last.  The  game  was  brisk  from  the  start.  The  first 
player  was  Bent.  She  succeeded  in  getting  three  succes 
sive  throws  the  first  time,  throwing  the  sticks  so  as  to 
have  the  rounding-barked  faces  up  twice,  thus  making 
ten  points  each  time.  The  last  throw  she  succeeded  in 
making  only  two  points,  in  all,  twenty -two;  and  her 
counting  stick  was  moved  forward  to  mark  the  tallies  of 
the  same.  Geetlu's  partner  played  next;  and,  out  of 
luck,  received  only  two  tallies.  Then  Lupe  played.  She 
had  better  luck  than  her  associate.  She  succeeded  in 
making  twenty-five  tallies.  It  was  now  Geetlu's  turn. 
As  she  took  up  the  sticks,  several  women  sneered.  But 
the  player  paid  no  heed  to  this.  She  carefully  placed  her 
sticks  in  position  and  hurled  them,  succeeding  in  getting 
two  successive  throws  of  ten  tallies  each.  Then,  as  a 
consequence,  she  was  still  entitled  to  one  more  throw. 
Again  she  carefully  arranged  the  sticks,  this  time  in  an 
altogether  different  position.  She  needed  two  more 
tallies  or  five  more  tallies  "  to  send  one  of  her  opponents 


206  DON  DIEGO 

home,"  to  use  the  Indian  phrase.  She  decided  to  use  the 
two,  and  so  planned  that  she  succeeded  in  getting  the  re 
quired  tallies  in  the  throw.  Back  to  the  starting  point 
she  hurled  Bent's  counting  stick,  thus  causing  that  one 
to  start  over  again.  Bent  played  next.  She  succeeded 
in  getting  twelve  tallies,  ten  with  the  first  throw  and  two 
with  the  second.  Bedessendaha  next  played.  She  re 
ceived  ten  tallies  the  first  throw.  Consequently  she 
landed  her  counting  stick  in  space  twelve  and  hurled 
Bent's  stick,  that  occupied  that  space,  back  to  the  start 
ing  point  again.  She  had  another  throw  in  which  she 
made  two  tallies  and,  therefore,  moved  her  counting  stick 
up  to  space  fourteen.  Lupe  then  played  and,  out  of  luck, 
received  only  two  points,  moving  her  stick  up  to  space 
twenty-seven.  Again  Geetlu  cast  the  sticks.  Carefully 
she  arranged  them,  gripped  them  tightly  and  hurled  them 
on  the  center  of  the  flat  rock,  from  which  they  bounced 
and  fell  with  all  the  white  faces  up,  giving  her  five  points. 
"  You  coyote,"  was  heard  to  be  uttered  by  several  women, 
as  she  moved  her  stick  forward  to  space  twenty-seven 
and  throwed  Lupe's  counting  stick  back  to  the  place  of 
beginning.  Again  Bent  played;  but  could  not  reach 
Bedessendaha's  stick,  as  fourteen  tallies  could  not  be  ob 
tained  with  two  throws,  using  combinations  of  two,  five, 
and  ten;  neither  could  she  reach  Geetlu's  stick  with  two 
tens  and  another  throw  of  two  or  five.  Her  only  hope, 
therefore,  was  to  make  as  many  successive  throws  of  ten 
tallies  each  as  possible.  She  did  her  best  and  received 
thirty-two  tallies,  three  tens  and  a  two.  Bedessendaha 
played  next.  She  got  two  throws,  a  ten  and  a  five,  mak 
ing  her  twenty-nine  points,  and  from  her  position,  also 
making  herself  safe  from  Lupe's  stick;  no  successive 


DON  DIEGO  207 

series  of  throws  would  tally  twenty-nine.  Lupe  then 
played  and  got  twenty-two  points.  Geetlu  picked  up  the 
setdilth  sticks  and  looked  at  them  carefully.  If  lucky, 
she  could  possibly  get  her  forty  tallies  completed ;  but  her 
colleague  was  not  out  yet  and  to  beat  in  the  game  they 
must  both  get  to  the  goal  ahead  of  their  opponents.  She 
had  it  in  her  head  to  "  whitewash "  them.  So  she 
thought  best  to  do  what  damage  she  could  and  still  re 
main  in  the  game.  She  gripped  the  sticks  and  hurled 
them,  securing  the  three  white  faces  and  the  consequent 
five  points.  She  then  moved  her  counting  stick  forward 
to  space  thirty-two  and  threw  Bent's  tally  stick  back  to 
the  starting  place  a  second  time,  as  some  by-standers 
hissed :  "  The  wolves  ought  to  have  eaten  her."  Bent 
played  next  but  made  only  five  tallies.  Bedessendaha 
then  cast  a  ten  and  a  two,  thus  reaching  a  goal  and  hav 
ing  one  tally  to  spare.  Lupe  again  played  receiving  ten 
tallies  the  first  throw  and  five  the  second,  thus  throwing 
Geetlu's  tally  stick  back  to  the  starting  point  again,  as 
all  the  women  cheered,  she  placing  her  tally  stick  finally 
in  space  thirty-seven.  Carefully,  Geetlu  again  played. 
She  blew  a  breath  in  prayer  upon  the  sticks,  gripped  them 
tightly,  arranged  and  rearranged  them,  then  cast  them  on 
their  mission  of  chance  four  successive  times,  receiving 
ten  tallies  each  time  and  thereby  winning  the  game. 

She  was  so  interested  that  she  saw  not  the  blackened 
faces  around  her.  As  she  threw  her  counting  stick 
"  home,"  more  than  twenty  women  seized  her  by  the  hair, 
tore  her  clothes  off  of  her,  and  beat  her  shamefully.  And 
that  night,  Kilpe,  her  husband,  also  pounded  her  because 
she  had  beaten  Lupe,  his  sister.  She  never  played  an 
other  setdilth  game. 


aoS  DON  DIEGO 

It  was  a  long  time  before  she  joined  the  "  social  circle  " 
again.  It  was  at  night  time.  The  performance  was  to 
be  the  moccasin  game,  called  Kah  by  the  Apaches.  They 
had  been  playing  it  many  nights.  Her  husband  was  one 
of  the  leading  players ;  and,  on  account  of  his  talking  so 
much  about  it  with  the  men  who  lounged  about  his  tepee, 
she  wished  to  see  it.  It  was  somewhat  near  nine  o'clock, 
postmeridian  time,  as  the  white  man  reckons  duration, 
when  she  joined  the  spectators  and  players  of  the  night. 
They  had  all  gathered  in  a  circle  around  a  fire,  which 
served  both  for  warmth  and  light.  The  players  were 
divided  into  two  groups,  or  "  sides,"  as  that  term  is 
used  in  civilized  games.  One  group  was  called  "  birds," 
the  other  "  beasts."  The  "  birds "  were  the  players, 
whichever  side  that  happened  to  be.  Only  four  played 
on  a  side,  but  in  case  they  represented  a  clan  of  Indians, 
the  staked  property  might  include  all  or  practically  all  the 
belongings  of  the  respective  clans  concerned,  as  was 
the  case  in  this  instance.  When  playing,  one  of  the 
groups  of  players  occupied  the  west,  the  other  the  east 
part  of  the  circle,  which  then  assumed  the  form  of  an 
ellipse.  When  all  was  ready,  a  captured,  old,  Spanish 
blanket  was  propped  up  between  the  "  beasts  "  and  the 
"  birds,"  or  was  placed  over  the  "  birds  "  to  screen  their 
movements.  The  "  birds  "  then  dug  seven  holes  some 
six  inches  deep  in  the  ground  and  in  one  of  these  they 
hid  a  moccasin  containing  a  small  white  bone.  Then 
they  filled  all  the  holes  with  leaves  and  leveled  all  over. 
Finally  they  removed  the  blanket  and  the  "  beasts  "  be 
gan  to  guess ;  the  game  was  on  the  same  principal  as  the 
"  chuck-luck  "  game  of  the  English  walnut  shells  and  the 
pea,  except  it  was  more  complicated.  It  is  a  straight 


DON  DIEGO 


209 


game  of  guess.     The  "  beasts  "  had  game  clubs,  sticks 
somewhat  resembling  a  cane.     As  they  sang: 


MOCCASIN  GAME  SONG 


«;=  104. 


f*i 


I         \=-4 


-  e 


yi. 


ya   -   e        yl...         ya   -   e        yi. 


H -i H       •• +— t 

P^=3=^--j-^=;-— 4-± 


,Q_ 


yi    -     e 


ya  -   e         i...     e  ha         na... 

Music  transcribed  by  J.  P.  Herring. 


"  Yah  e  yi, 

Yah  e  yi, 

Ain-ne  ah, 

Ain-ne  ah, 

Hay,  hay,  ah  hay  ah  ah  ah." 

their  leader  pointed  with  his  club  to  the  hole  where  he 
thought  the  bone  was.  If  he  was  right,  they  again  sang 
the  song  vigorously,  as  an  umpire  gave  their  tally  keeper 
a  ribbon-like  leaf  of  the  shoe-string  yucca  plant ;  the  tally 
keeper  of  each  of  the  groups  had  ten  of  these  shoe 
strings  at  the  beginning  of  the  game. 

For  a  long  time  Geetlu  looked  on  but  could  not  un 
derstand  how  it  was  played.  Finally  she  asked  Bedes- 
sendaha  to  explain  it  to  her.  "  I  will  explain  it,  sister," 
said  Bedessendaha.  "  It  is  this  way :  There  are  two 
ways  of  playing  the  game :  with  the  moccasin,  and  with 
a  buried  pebble ;  the  last  is  known  as  the  dirt  type.  These 
are  the  rules  used  in  playing  the  game: 

"  i.  If  in  the  preliminary  or  false  motion  movement 
the  pebble  or  moccasin  is  uncovered,  it  counts  one  tally 


THE  MOCCASIN  GAME  FIELD  OF  THE  DIRT  TYPE 

Map  showing  the  various  arrangements  of  the  moccasin  game  field  of  the  dirt  type, 
used  in  playing  one  game  at  the  camp  of  Chief  R  6  the  night  of  January  29,  1902. 

The  broken  lines  indicate  the  false  or  preliminary  motions. 

H   shows  the  line   where  the   pebble   should  be   hid. 

C  shows  where   the  pebble   is   hid. 

S  shows  the  final  stroke.     It  is  represented  by  a  continuous  line. 

In  2,  8,  10,  13,  17,  19  the  pebble  was  uncovered  in  the  preliminary  motion.  In  i,  3, 
4.  6,  7,  9,  ii,  12,  14,  15,  16,  1 8,  and  20  it  was  missed  both  in  the  preliminary 
and  in  the  final  strokes.  In  5,  it  was  uncovered  in  the  final  stroke.  This  was 
the  only  one  which  counted  points  for  the  searchers.  In  this  case  they  got  the 
pebble  and  took  it  to  their  own  game  field.  The  beasts  at  the  beginning  of  the 
game  then  turned  "  birds  "  and  were  finally  the  winners  of  the  game. 

210 


DON  DIEGO  211 

for  the  side  which  has  buried  it,  that  is,  for  the 
'  birds.' 

"2.  If  the  pebble  is  located  at  the  final  stroke,  not  the 
preliminary  strokes,  of  the  'mystic  stick  (game  club),' 
it  counts  one  point  for  the  '  beasts,'  and  that  side  takes 
the  pebble  to  its  own  game  field.  The  other  side  then 
becomes  '  beasts  '  and  begins  to  guess. 

"3.  If  the  pebble  is  not  located  in  the  final  stroke, 
nor  the  preliminary  stroke  of  the  '  mystic  stick,'  it  counts 
one  tally  for  the  '  birds.'  And  that  side  retains  it  and 
hides  it  again. 

"  4.  There  is  always  one  less  false  motion  of  the 
'  mystic  stick  '  than  there  are  possible  places  for  the  peb 
ble  or  moccasin  to  be  hid ;  for  example,  in  case  there  are 
nine  holes  in  any  one  of  which  the  stone  may  be  hid, 
eight  preliminary  strokes  of  the  *  mystic  stick  '  may  be 
made,  and  two  must  be  made. 

"  5.  There  are  always  two  tally  keepers  and  an  um 
pire;  one  of  the  tally  keepers  represents  each  opposing 
party.  At  the  beginning  of  the  game  each  of  these  tally 
keepers  has  a  number  of  bear  grass  blades,  '  Indian  shoe 
strings,'  corresponding  to  the  number  of  tallies  decided 
upon  to  constitute  a  game.  When  a  side  looses,  the 
tally  keeper  of  that  side  gives  a  blade  of  grass  to  his 
opponent  tally  keeper.  When  all  the  '  Indian  shoe 
strings  '  have  passed  to  the  possession  of  any  one  side, 
that  side  has  won  the  game." 

As  they  were  thus  talking,  the  first  game  closed;  the 
group,  to  which  Geetlu's  husband,  Kilpe,  belonged,  won 
the  game  and  swept  in  the  staked  property.  It  was  then 
proposed  to  play  the  game  again,  using  the  dirt  type. 
Again,  the  property  was  staked,  the  umpire  sitting  on 


212  DON  DIEGO 

the  pile  of  trinkets.  The  winners  of  the  previous  game 
kept  the  "  mystic  pebble."  This  they  buried  beneath 
one  of  several  ridges  of  dirt  they  had  ridged  up  in  the 
game  field.  This  being  done  and  the  dirt  all  smoothed 
over,  a  member  of  the  "  beasts  "  came  to  the  game  field ; 
and  after  making  several  false  motions  with  his  stick 
while  he  argued  and  joked  with  his  opponents  to  see  if 
he  could  decide  from  their  actions  where  the  valuable 
pebble  was,  he  struck  with  a  vigorous  thrust,  the  spot  in 
which  he  had  decided  the  stone  was.  He  had  lost  and 
his  opponents  sang  the  moccasin  song  and  jumped  for 
joy. 

Again  and  again  they  hid  the  pebble ;  and  the  "  beasts  " 
lost  till  nine  tally  ribbons  had  passed  over  to  the  pos 
session  of  the  "  birds  " ;  only  one  more,  and  the  win 
ning  side  had  the  game.  The  excitement  reached  a  high 
pitch.  The  "  birds  "  sang  and  crow-hopped ;  so  did  the 
"  beasts."  All  stroked  their  fetishes,  prayed  to  their 
gods,  and  sprinkled  cat-tail-flag  pollen  toward  the  semi- 
cardinal  points.  The  air  rang  with  the  wild  shouts. 
The  leader  of  the  "  beasts  "  struck  —  and  won.  A  roar 
like  the  whizzing  of  a  mighty  wind  before  a  raging 
storm,  filled  the  valley,  as  the  "  beasts  "  became  "  birds  " 
and  the  "  birds  "  became  "  beasts."  The  tables  were 
turned.  Kilpe's  group  of  players  lost  and  losjt,  lost 
seventeen  successive  tallies.  They  had  but  one  tally  rib 
bon  left.  Would  the  gods  favor  them?  Earnestly  they 
prayed  to  their  gods  and  sprinkled  the  sacred  pollen  to 
the  four  winds.  Kilpe  took  the  divining  stick  and  by 
every  means  known  to  an  Apache,  he  tried  to  find  out 
beforehand  where  the  pebble  was  buried  in  a  "  potato  " 
mound  over  which  eight  small  furrows  had  been  made 


DON  DIEGO  213 

with  the  hand,  four  crossing  the  other  four;  the  pebble 
was  buried  beneath  one  of  the  places  where  the  lines 
bisected.  After  using  every  other  artifice  he  knew,  he 
tried  the  false-motion  scheme;  and  in  this  preliminary 
movement  he  uncovered  the  pebble  and  thereby  lost  the 
game.  His  opponents  shrieked  for  joy  and  tripped  in 
baboon  fashion  over  the  grassy  plot,  as  the  staked  prop 
erty  was  turned  over  to  them.  Besides  many  other 
things,  Kilpe  had  staked  his  and  also  his  wife's  wear 
ing  apparel  on  the  game  and,  loosing,  took  his  off  and 
gave  them  to  his  opponents,  being  dressed  then  only  in 
breech-cloth.  But  Geetlu  fled  the  place,  followed  by  her 
angry  husband,  angry  because  he  had  lost  and  because 
his  wife  had  publicly  disobeyed  his  orders. 

Arriving  at  the  tepee,  he  beat  her  unmercifully;  he 
even  accused  her  of  being  the  cause  of  his  loosing  the 
game.  For  two  days  she  sobbed  and  begged  him  to  kill 
her  or  to  take  her  into  the  Pueblo  country  where  she 
would  see  that  he  was  amply  paid  for  his  troubles.  But 
he  would  do  neither.  He  seemed  to  be  contented  when 
he  had  something  to  abuse.  And  being  a  foreigner,  she 
was  totally  at  his  mercy.  She  loathed  the  man  and  loved 
another.  She  wished  to  die;  but  the  gods  had  decreed 
that  her  days  were  not  yet  finished.  On,  on  she  dragged 
out  the  miserable  life. 

The  summer  following  the  playing  of  the  moccasin 
game,  she  labored  hard  breaking  ground,  irrigating,  and 
planting  corn  and  attending  to  it  till  it  matured;  while 
in  sight  day  by  day,  her  husband  played  the  pole  game 
with  other  men  as  lazy  as  himself. 

In  playing  this  game,  Kilpe  and  his  companions  laid 
off  a  pole  ground  in  a  north  and  south  direction  some 


214 


DON  DIEGO 


eighty  yards  in  length  by  six  yards  in  width.  A  base 
was  placed  in  the  center  of  this  game  field,  a  mark  on 
the  ground,  or  a  flat  stone  answering  the  purpose.  About 
ten  yards  both  to  the  north  and  to  the  south  of  this 


AN  APACHE  SONG 
A  T 


(ftr^-H  r- 

L]           1 

H  — 

-i  1  i  — 

^K  ^     4 

1 

a 

H             -J 

tf              7 

V-       ? 

-J-           » 

Nah     e     zhosh  -  she 

day 

-    yah        Nah 

e     zhosh-  she 

r\    A              ' 

A 

. 

T 

A                    t 

If      ff 

i       ri 

3 

1      ~~i 

"1 

R 

/L    i    i        !  a 

K              1 

1 

"-i                          >• 

$HH  —  S 

J-3  4- 

—4— 

•      • 

•  

-i           —i- 

day  -  yah      Nah    zhosh-she   day   -    yah  -  a      day      yah 


Dutch-che-hay  be-nah  e  zhosh-che  day  -  yah        e       hay  -  nay. 

Music  transcribed  by  J.  P.  Herring. 

This  is  the  Apache  Pole  Game  Song.     Its  English  equivalent  is: 
"Let   us   play   the   Pole   Game; 
Let   us   play  the    Pole    Game ; 
Let   us    play   the    Pole    Game; 
Let  us  all  go  up  above  to  Dutchehay's 
to  play  the  Pole  Game." 

base,  three  hay  ridges,  three  yards  long,  were  placed 
a  foot  or  so  apart,  with  a  trough  between  the  center  one 
and  each  of  the  outer  ones.  Then  with  a  small  hoop  in 
the  right  hand  on  which  there  were  eleven  peculiar  mark 
ings  and  across  which  in  the  diameter-line  there  was  a 
transverse  buckskin  cord  beaded  with  one  hundred  and 
one  beads,  the  leader  rolled  it  from  the  base  so  that  it 
would  enter  one  of  the  troughs  and  would  consequently 
lose  its  speed  there  and  fall  over  on  its  side.  As  it  was 
started  to  roll,  two  Indians,  belonging  to  the  same  side 


DON  DIEGO  215 

as  the  Indian  who  had  rolled  the  hoop,  started  from  some 
twenty  paces  back  of  the  base  from  the  direction  the 
hoop  was  rolling.  Each  took  a  pole  twenty  feet  in 
length ;  and,  grasping  it  in  the  middle  and  swinging  it 
from  right  to  left  over  his  shoulder,  ran  to  the  base  and 
dexteriously  hurled  his  pole  after  the  rolling  hoop;  so 
that  it  slid  under  the  latter  as  it  was  ceasing  its  motion, 
so  that  when  the  former's  motion  ceased,  its  heavy  end 
was  beneath  the  hoop.  This  pole  at  the  heavy  end  also 
had  eight  peculiar  markings  on  it.  The  other  pole  like 
wise  ceased  its  motion  beneath  the  hoop.  Then  came 
the  counting  of  the  points. 

All  points  on  each  pole  that  fell  on  or  within  the  rim 
of  the  hoop  were  counted  as  were  all  the  points  on  the 
hoop-rim,  and  all  the  beads  on  the  transverse  cord  which 
fell  within  the  edges  of  either  pole.  The  points  being 
counted,  the  players  again  proceeded  to  the  base  and 
played  again  as  before.  One  hundred  throws  consti 
tuted  a  game. 

As  she  thus  saw  Kilpe  playing,  Geetlu's  mind  naturally 
turned  to  her  Pueblo  husband  and  the  pleasant  home  of 
her  childhood  days  where  a  man  married  a  woman  be 
cause  he  loved  her,  possibly  not  to  the  same  degree  that 
a  white  man  loves  his  life  partner  but  because  he  loved 
her  nevertheless;  and  now  she  was  an  Apache  slave. 
Would  she  ever  see  that  home  again  and  her  longed-for 
Don  Diego? 

That  fall  she  gave  birth  to  a  little  girl,  and  for  the 
first  time  in  Apache  land  she  felt  happy.  Now  she  had 
someone  to  care  for  that  would  appreciate  it;  but  the 
fates  had  decreed  otherwise.  The  little  one  was  sickly  and 
cried  at  night.  It  annoyed  her  husband  to  hear  it  cry; 


2l6 


DON  DIEGO 


o 

Irt 


DIAGRAM  OF  POLE  STICKS  AND  POLE  HOOP 
Fig.  i.  Pole  Stick.    The  grooves  b,  c,  d,  g,  h;  the  spaces  e,  f,  i,  and  the 

point  a  are  points  used  in  the  game. 
Fig.  2.  The  Pole  Hoop,  etc.    The  spaces  1-4  and  6-n  and  the  groove  5  are 

the  points  on  the  hoop  used  in  the  game. 


DON  DIEGO  217 

and  instead  of  trying  to  soothe  it  as  a  civilized  man 
would,  he  ordered  Geetlu  to  strangle  it,  as  was  the 
Apache  custom  to  destroy  "  cry-babies."  But  Geetlu 
would  do  no  such  thing.  Finally  one  night  it  cried  and 
woke  him.  Enraged,  he  tore  it  from  her  bosom  and  beat 
it  to  death  in  her  presence. 

With  a  sad  heart,  she  gathered  in  the  crop  that  fall. 
She  had  plenty  for  the  winter  and  to  spare.  The  day 
she  finished  gathering  the  crop,  she  carefully  buried  the 
ripe  corn  and  then  with  a  sigh  sat  down  for  a  moment's 
rest.  As  she  was  sitting  there,  several  women  ap 
proached  her,  each  having  her  carrying  basket  swing 
ing  at  the  back.  As  they  neared  her,  the  formost  woman 
accosted  her  and  said :  "  We  have  come  to  get  your 
husband's  corn.  He  staked  the  entire  gathered  crop  on 
a  pole  game  this  afternoon  and  lost  the  game.  Our  hus 
bands  have  sent  us  to  get  the  property,  with  orders  from 
Kilpe  for  you  to  help  us  get  it.  Where  is  it?  Get  to 
work,  here,  you  Coyote;  we  are  in  a  hurry." 

"  You  can't  have  my  corn.  I  raised  it  and  it  belongs 
to  me,"  bitterly  spoke  up  Geetlu.  No  doubt  she  remem 
bered  that  among  the  Pueblos,  the  stored  crop  belonged 
to  the  wife  or  women  of  the  house. 

"  We  have  orders  to  get  it,"  joined  in  another  woman. 

"  You  can't  have  an  ear  of  my  corn,"  angrily  spoke 
up  Geetlu  as  she  arose  and  seized  a  knife.  "  It's  mine 
and  you  cannot  have  it." 

At  that  instant  Kilpe  himself  came  up;  and,  hearing 
Geetlu,  proceeded  to  beat  her  into  insensibility,  caring 
not  in  the  least  if  he  killed  her.  When  she  regained  con 
sciousness  again,  the  fruits  of  her  hard  labors  had  been 
removed  and  she  was  alone  in  her  tepee. 


2i8  DON  DIEGO 

Three  or  four  days  or  perhaps  ten  days  passed. 
Geetlu  did  not  know  or  care  how  many,  for  she  cried 
and  cried  the  hours  away.  Finally  one  day  Kilpe  came 
and  ordered  her  to  carry  water  and  help  make  Indian 
whisky.  She  went  as  bidden.  Tus  after  tus  of  water 
she  carried,  as  did  the  other  women.  The  corn  had  al 
ready  been  sprouted  under  their  deer  hide  beds,  or  in 
bags  on  some  south  sloping  hillside.  The  sprouted 
product  had  already  been  mashed  on  the  Apache  grind 
ing  slabs  and  the  product  put  in  the  hollowed-out  wooden 
trays  and  root-bark  of  a  species  of  lignum-vitse,  bark  of 
the  sassafras  tree,  the  leaves  and  roots  of  several  peren 
nial  plants,  including  the  roots  and  leaves  of  the  tobacco 
weed  had  been  added  to  make  it  ferment  and  give  flavor 
to  it.  Then  to  give  it  the  intoxicating  principal,  loco 
weed  was  added  in  the  proportion  known  to  be  needed 
to  produce  the  desired  effect;  so  that  the  happy  hunting 
ground  would  come  to  the  drinker  for  a  time.  The 
water  was  then  added  and  the  whole  heated  to  the  boil 
ing  point  by  the  throwing  into  the  tray  of  red  hot  rocks. 
When  it  had  boiled  a  few  minutes,  it  was  let  cool,  then 
strained  and  the  malt  remashed.  This  mashed  product 
and  the  now  white-colored  liquid  was  put  back  into  the 
vats  and  reheated  and  perennial  herbs  added  again;  the 
whole  is  called  tul-le-pie  (white  water)  by  the  Apaches. 
After  it  was  heated,  it  was  cooled  then  let  stand  and  fer 
ment,  about  twelve  'hours  being  sufficient.  Then  the 
drinking  began.  With  gourds  they  sat  around  the  vats 
and  drank.  Men,  women,  and  children,  even  babies ;  this 
is  the  only  luxury  that  an  Apache  will  share  equally  with 
his  wife  and  will  partake  of  at  the  same  time.  All  were 
drinking  but  Geetlu.  She  had  returned  to  her  tepee  and 


219 


sat  within  it  sobbing:  her  crop,  her  home,  her  baby  was 
gone.     She  sobbed  and  sobbed. 

INDIAN  WHISKEY  SONG 


Tul  -  pi     a  -  shlah-  u         da  -  ya      Tul  -  pi     a  -  shlah-u 


^ 


da   -    ya  Tul   -   pi      a  -  shlah  -  u          da    -    ya      u  - 


75T     K 

3 

=*  —  £= 

i  —  i  —  | 

H  —  h 

F~K"    ~~l 

SPP 

y=^= 

^3—  *= 

•  —  &  — 

-J  —  gt 

'  j  jH 

da    -    ya       D6m  -wah  yog  -  ga  -  she      tag  -  ge 
r-0-  r  r  rV—  ,  ,  r- 

-      6 

A 

S~d= 

- 

-1  — 

3— 

_..,  .  . 

—  r~*~ 

—  l  — 

—  ' 

-       I 

Tul    -    pi      a  -  shlah  -  u 


da    -    ya  e         nah         i 

Music  transcribed  by  J.  P.  Herring. 


As  she  was  thus  crying  out  her  grief,  she  heard  quite 
a  commotion  in  the  vicinity  of  the  whisky  drinking  but 
thought  nothing  about  it,  except  that  an  extra  amount  of 
the  "  white  water  "  had  been  made  at  this  time  and  that 
likely  all  would  be  boisterously  drunk.  But  for  some  un- 
thought-of  reason,  she  went  to  the  door  of  the  wigwam 
and  peered  out.  There  she  saw  all  the  Indians  congre 
gated  around  the  foot  of  a  low  tree  which  had  had  the 
top  branches  removed.  She  wiped  the  tears  from  her 
eyes  and  looked  again.  She  could  now  distinctly  see 
Kilpe  standing  on  the  lower  branches  of  the  tree  and, 
from  the  motions  of  his  hands,  she  could  see  that  he  was 


220  DON  DIEGO 

making  a  speech  to  them.  She  turned  to  go  back  into 
her  house  when  a  roaring  shout  caused  her  to  turn  back 
again.  In  that  momentarily  short  space  of  time  all  had 
changed  on  the  little  knoll.  Kilpe  had  left  the  tree ;  and 
the  screeching,  howling  crowd  were  scattering,  running 
in  all  directions.  It  was  at  the  beginning  of  dusk.  She 
waited  a  few  moments  to  see  what  it  all  meant.  Then 
she  saw  the  whole  population  that  could  walk  carrying 
wood  to  a  place  not  far  from  the  tepee.  "  Oh,"  she  re 
marked  to  herself  as  she  returned  within  the  hovel  she 
called  home,  "  they  are  going  to  have  a  corn-husking 
dance." 

She  squatted  on  the  floor  and  began  to  cry  again. 
Suddenly,  she  heard  a  step  towards  her.  She  raised  her 
head;  and,  by  the  light  of  the  low  fire  in  her  tepee,  she 
saw  that  it  was  Bedessendaha  and  that  she  was  also  cry 
ing.  "  What  is  it,  sister,"  she  said,  as  Bedessendaha  put 
her  arms  about  her  and  kissed  her. 

Bedessendaha  looked  about  to  see  that  no  one  was  in 
hearing,  then  exclaimed :  "  That  brute,  Kilpe !  To 
night  all  drunk !  He  tell  the  people  '  You  no  good !  You 
cry  all  the  time !  You  witch ! '  This  wood !  This 
big  fire!  Tonight  you  burn  at  yonder  tree!  Go,  my 
sister!  Go  away  from  this  place!  It  is  dark  now  and 
they  are  not  watching  you  at  this  moment.  Go !  ( Yog- 
go-she-un)  go!" 

Geetlu  knew  that  her  companion  was  telling  the  truth. 
At  the  same  instant  her  attention  was  attracted  by  Kilpe's 
coarse  voice  on  the  knoll  without  telling  the  death-men 
to  go  and  get  his  coyote  wife  and  to  tie  her  safely  and 
firmly  to  the  tree  where  they  were  to  burn  her. 

The  darkness  swallowed  her  up  and  she  fled  up  the 


DON  DIEGO  221 

East  Fork  of  White  River  toward  the  snow-clad  peaks  of 
Mounts  Ord  and  Thomas  of  the  White  Mountains  be 
yond  which  she  knew  was  the  Pueblo  country, —  how  far 
beyond,  of  course,  she  did  not  know.  She  had  not  been 
gone  long  when  she  knew  by  the  whoops  in  the  valley 
behind  her  that  she  had  been  missed  and  was  pursued  by 
at  least  a  considerable  portion  of  the  band  to  which  her 
husband  belonged.  Harder  and  faster  she  ran;  but  she 
could  tell  that  the  pursuers  were  gaining  on  her.  Once 
she  fell  down  and  sprained  her  ankle  badly ;  but,  on  get 
ting  to  her  feet,  was  able  to  run  on  again  under  the  ex 
citement.  She  now  heard  running  footsteps  near  her,  so 
plunged  into  the  river  and  swam  to  its  north  bank.  She 
was  then  several  miles  east  of  the  present  Fort  Apache. 
She  heard  the  runners,  several  of  them,  plunge  into  the 
water  after  her  and  heard  them  whoop  the  terrifying 
whoop,  as  they  resumed  the  pursuit  after  gaining  the 
north  bank;  though  the  pursued  thought  that  less  people 
were  following  her  than  formerly.  These,  however,  were 
gaining  on  her. 

She  was  a  Pueblo  and  had  climbed  walls  from  her  child 
hood;  the  Apaches  were  not  cliff  climbers.  Her  own 
home  was  on  the  mesa  at  the  forks  of  the  Jemez  River, 
as  we  have  seen ;  and  the  walls  of  this  mesa  she  had 
scaled  many  a  time  on  hairbreadth  niches  and  shelf- 
spaces.  So  she  decided  to  scale  the  walls  that  shut  in 
the  valley  here  and  thus  get  out  of  the  canon  and  run 
her  chances  of  escaping  under  cover  of  the  dense  wood, 
one  thousand  feet  above  her.  To  the  wall  she  ran  and 
at  once  began  to  scale  it.  The  ascent  was  exceedingly 
hazardous  and  difficult;  but  she  succeeded  in  getting 
foot-  and  hand-holds  even  in  the  darkness.  Climbing  to 


222  DON  DIEGO 

a  spot  some  two  hundred  feet  above  the  valley,  she 
paused  a  moment  to  get  her  breath.  She  was  at  once  ap 
prised  of  the  fact  that  someone  else  was  also  scaling 
the  wall.  She  caught  her  breath  and  then  continued 
her  climbing.  Crevices  and  little  edges  of  rock  were 
now  the  only  holds  she  could  get ;  but  her  courage  failed 
her  not.  On  she  climbed.  Many  voices  could  now  be 
heard  beneath  her;  but  she  did  not  hear  them.  Her 
head  was  turned  upward,  as  her  hands  fumbled  the  rock 
wall  to  find  a  holding  place.  At  this  moment  the  moon 
rose  over  the  distant  mesa;  and  she  could  see  that  at 
a  considerable  distance  above  her  there  jutted  out  from 
the  face  of  the  cliff  a  natural  shelf  about  two  lengths  of 
a  man  in  width  and  possibly  twice  as  long.  With  super 
human  strength  and  with  infinite  carefulness  and  ac 
curacy  of  movement,  she  still  struggled  upward,  as  if  it 
were  against  fate.  In  the  moonlight  she  could  be  dis 
tinctly  seen;  and  was  now  a  target  for  a  score  of  arch 
ers.  But  she  was  three  hundred  feet  above  the  valley 
and  night  aiding,  she  was  practically  out  of  their  reach. 
However,  several  arrows  whizzed  by  her  and  bounded 
from  the  wall  to  the  valley  again.  But  on  she  climbed, 
till  she  was  immediately  beneath  the  shelf.  Could  she 
ever  get  on  it?  And  even  then  could  she  go  any 
further?  Could  she  get  from  it  to  the  top  of  the  mesa 
hundreds  of  feet  above?  Her  strength  was  almost  gone. 
She  thought  to  drop  herself  into  the  valley  and  end  it 
all.  She  swung  one  hand  and  one  foot  into  space  pre 
paratory  to  making  the  final  plunge.  A  moment  she 
stood  between  the  two  eternities,  as  she  prayed  to  her 
gods ;  then  it  would  be  all  over.  She  was  just  shutting 
her  eyes  for  the  final  leap,  when  her  eye  detected  an- 


DON  DIEGO  223 

other  hand-hold  beyond  the  edge  of  the  shelf.  At  the 
same  instant  she  heard  the  climber  below  her  shouting 
that  he  could  not  climb  further.  She  was  safe  if  she 
could  gain  the  shelf.  This  gave  her  courage.  She 
made  two  shifts  along  the  rock  face.  Then  she  discov 
ered  a  place  on  which  she  could  elevate  herself  a  little  at 
a  time  till  at  last  she  was  on  a  level  with  the  upper  sur 
face  of  the  platform.  Then  by  shelfing  back,  she  gained 
it  and  stood  once  more  master  of  the  situation. 

Just  as  she  gained  the  platform,  she  heard  a  shriek 
and  then  a  dull,  falling  sound.  Her  pursuer  had  fallen 
to  the  valley.  She  stood  a  moment  on  the  edge  of  her 
rock  table  and  listened.  Then  a  shower  of  arrows  drove 
her  from  her  position  to  the  face  of  the  perpendicular 
wall  at  her  back.  But  this  was  not  safe,  as  the  arrows 
were  so  pitched  that  they  fell  and  endangered  her  life. 
She  took  a  step  or  two  backward  and  one  to  the  left 
from  her  former  position.  Here  she  found  that  a  tun 
nel  ran  back  into  the  cliff.  Picking  up  a  stick  that  was 
lying  on  the  platform,  evidently  having  fallen  from  the 
mesa  above,  she  began  to  tap  on  the  floor  of  the  tunnel 
and  to  proceed  inward.  Slowly  she  moved  forward,  till 
she  knew  that  she  was  out  of  reach  of  the  arrows  of 
her  pursuers.  Then  to  be  sure  to  be  safe  she  went  a 
considerable  distance  further,  as  the  opening  in  the  rock- 
wall  seemed  to  be  continuous.  She  proceeded  till  she 
could  no  longer  hear  the  voices  in  the  distance.  Then 
she  sat  with  her  back  against  the  wall;  and,  being  ex 
hausted  and  believing  she  was  safe  in  her  hiding  place, 
she  soon  fell  asleep. 

How  long  she  slept  she  knew  not.  She  awoke,  rubbed 
her  eyes,  and  sat  upright.  At  first  she  could  not  decide 


224  °ON  DIEGO 

where  she  was  or  how  she  got  there.  At  last  it  all  came 
to  her  like  a  horrid  nightmare.  She  was  in  some  cave 
and  it  was  darker  than  the  darkest  dungeon.  Which 
way  had  she  entered  it  and  where  did  the  cave  lead  to? 
She  could  not  answer  any  of  these  questions.  She  had 
not  thought  of  anything  but  saving  her  life  from  im 
mediate  danger  when  she  entered  the  shaft ;  and  she  had 
neglected  to  lay  the  stick  she  carried  in  the  direction 
from  which  she  had  come.  She  was  lost.  And,  as  is 
usually  the  case  with  a  lost  person,  she  went  the  wrong 
way  when  she  tried  to  find  the  entrance. 

Driven  by  hunger  and  thirst,  she  arose,  thumped  the 
wall  with  her  stick  and  proceeded  onward,  she  knew  not 
whither.  Back  and  back  into  the  cliff  she  traveled,  pass 
ing  through  passages  and  corridors  and  a  net-work  sys 
tem  of  rooms,  crawling  through  places  through  which 
she  could  hardly  squeeze  her  body  and  then  passing 
through  large  rooms.  A  couple  of  times  she  came  to 
offsets  and  each  time  fell  and  hurt  herself  badly.  Not 
withstanding  this,  she  kept  up  hope  and  kept  continually 
on  the  move.  At  last  overcome  with  fatigue,  she  fell 
exhausted  to  the  rock-floor.  For  a  long  while  she  lay 
there  motionless.  So  hungry  was  she  that  she  could 
hardly  keep  from  gnawing  her  fingers;  and  her  raging 
thirst  W'as  consuming  her. 

Suddenly  a  thought  struck  her.  In  her  mania 
dress  was  a  "  spinning  stick  "  which  she  used  in  start 
ing  fires,  and  in  her  hand  was  a  dry  stick  of  wood. 
She  would  make  a  light  and  see  if  she  could  discover 
the  way  out  of  the  place.  She  broke  the  stick  and  care 
fully  collected  the  splinters  and  slivers.  Then  by  the 
drilling  process,  she  soon  had  some  live-coals  in  the  bor- 


DON  DIEGO  225 

ings.  Then  she  blew  on  these  till  she  had  a  blaze  started. 
Having  obtained  the  desired  light,  she  arose  and  looked 
about  her  a  moment,  then  shrieked,  and  swooned. 

There  around  her  huddled  together  on  the  cold  damp 
floor  of  stone,  as  if  for  mutual  protection  and  sympathy, 
lay  the  ghastly  skeletons  of  hundreds  of  cliff-dwellers, 
petrified  by  their  exposure  during  the  passing  ages.  A 
short  distance  apart  from  them  lay  the  frame  of  their 
medicine  man,  leaning  against  the  wall  opposite  the  en 
trance  to  the  room,  his  skull  resting  on  his  breastbone 
just  as  he  had  died. 

The  lone  woman  lay  as  motionless  as  the  dead  around 
her.  The  fire  burned  out;  and  darkest  darkness  once 
more  ruled  in  the  chamber  of  the  dead. 


THE  scene  again  changed.  The  sun  was  going 
down  the  western  slope  of  the  heavens.  The 
Jemez  were  in  the  act  of  completing  the  perform 
ances  of  a  gala  day.  Just  as  the  people  were  thus  busily 
engaged,  a  shout  from  the  tower  filled  everyone  with 
consternation.  Could  an  enemy  be  approaching?  In  a 
moment  Don  Diego  was  on  the  tower.  There  could  be 
no  mistake  about  it.  The  scout  in  the  vicinity  of  Mount 
Negro  was  sending  up  rings  of  smoke  in  quick  succes 
sion.  The  enemy  was  making  a  rapid  march.  Could  it 
be  that  the  Santa  Annas  under  Ojeda  were  on  the  war 
path?  Toward  Jemez  the  rings  of  smoke  moved.  The 
enemy  was,  indeed,  marching  up  the  valley.  The  ex 
citement  grew  more  and  more  intense  as  a  runner,  nude 
with  the  exception  of  a  breech-cloth,  crossed  the  adobe 
flat  just  north  of  "  Red  Rock "  and  headed  toward 
Jemez  at  a  full  run.  Scouts  went  out  to  meet  him,  but 
he  heeded  them  not.  On  he  came  and  climbed  the  trail 
and  entered  the  plaza.  "  Don  Diego,"  he  breathlessly 
called.  "  Don  Diego !  "  he  repeated. 

"  Here  I  am,"  shouted  the  war-captain,  as  he  and  a 
few  of  his  braves  gathered  around  the  panting  runner. 

"  They  are  coming,"  exclaimed  the  messenger. 

"  Who  comes  ?  Are  the  Santa  Annas  on  the  war 
path  ?  "  anxiously  asked  all  in  a  breath. 

"  No,  brothers !  "  he  excitedly  cried  as  he  gave  a  shud- 

226 


DON  DIEGO  227 

der  that  shook  his  whole  frame,  "  the  Spaniards  are  com 
ing,  an  army  of  them.  The  Santa  Annas  fled  the  valley 
at  their  approach  this  morning.  They  are  marching  this 
way.  By  the  time  the  great  orb  of  day  has  made  one 
more  journey  over  the  mountains  at  his  going  down,  they 


A  Drawing  of  the  Sun  on  "Red  Rock,"  one  mile  north  of  the  present 
village  of  Jemez.     It  also  represents  the  "Spider  Woman." 

will  have  captured  Zia  and  will  be  marching  against  this 
place." 

"Be  they  men  or  demons,  more  than  one  sun  will 
shine  on  this  place  before  it  is  taken,"  broke  in  Don 
Diego,  as  he  closed  his  mouth  like  a  vise,  and  looked  with 
determined  gaze  upon  those  around  him. 


228  DON  DIEGO 

At  this  juncture,  emissaries  arrived  from  Zia  and  be 
sought  aid  from  the  Jemez.  This  was  readily  granted; 
and  signal  after  signal  in  rings  of  smoke  from  the 
estufa  roof  at  once  proclaimed  the  news  to  the  Zia  vil 
lages  that  the  Jemez  braves  to  a  man  would  join  the 
painted  ranks.  At  about  the  same  time,  a  scout  arrived 
with  the  news  that  the  white  men  had  camped  at  the 
southern  point  of  the  lower  peninsula  of  black,  basaltic 
lava  which  here  extends  through  the  vast  expanse  of 
sand  in  a  semicircle  from  Mount  Negro  to  the  place 
where  the  water  of  the  river  sinks  below  the  whitened, 
alkali,  crust-covered  surface.  "  They  have  put  their 
horses  out  to  graze,"  he  continued ;  "  and  are  cooking 
and  feasting  and  preparing  to  sleep  for  the  night." 

"  It  is  done,"  spoke  up  the  war  chief,  as  he  turned  to 
the  Zia  messengers  and  said :  "  Go  at  once  to  Zia  and 
tell  my  brother  and  his  warriors  that  we  will  meet  them 
at  midnight  in  the  flat  south  of  '  Red  Rock  '  opposite 
their  village."  Then  turning  to  the  warriors  around 
him,  he  added :  "  The  enemy  has  gone  into  camp.  Be 
fore  daylight  to-morrow  they  will  be  ours." 

As  soon  as  the  Zia  scouts  had  left  for  home,  by  dif 
ferent  routes,  Don  Diego  sounded  the  big  drum,  assem 
bled  the  braves,  and  marched  out  of  the  village  at  their 
head  to  join  the  allies  at  the  appointed  time  and  place. 
As  they  were  thus  departing,  the  women,  who  had 
formed  in  a  long  line  on  either  side  of  the  entrance  to 
the  village,  wished  them  the  favor  of  the  gods,  saying 
to  them :  "  May  you  return  conquerers  of  all  you  see 
and  may  the  scalps  of  all  the  pale- faces  you  engage  in. 
battle  be  trophies  in  the  house  of  the  gods  in  this  place." 

Not  a  brave  uttered  a  word ;  but,  in  true  Indian  style, 


DON  DIEGO  229 

marched  down  the  trail  between  the  double  line  of  women 
and  girls,  all  feigning  not  to  notice  them  at  all.  But 
they  did,  nevertheless.  Don  Diego  noticed  that  one  face 
was  missing.  On  down  the  trail  they  passed  and  on  out 
onto  the  flat  valley-regions,  as  the  sun  priest  and  his  aids 
and  the  war  medicine  men  sprinkled  them  with  sacred 
corn  pollen  and  meal  and  invoked  the  blessings  of  the 
gods  upon  them. 

Arriving  at  the  "  flat "  about  opposite  the  place  where 
the  modern  village  of  San  Y  Sidro  is  situated  they  found 
the  allies  waiting  for  them,  though  it  was  not  yet  the 
midnight  hour.  A  low  fire  was  at  once  kindled  so  that 
all  might  warm;  the  nights  are  always  cold  in  that  re 
gion.  Then  the  pipe  of  Peace  and  Friendship  was 
passed  around  to  each  and  every  individual,  as  all  tried 
their  bows  and  greased,  warmed,  and  straightened  their 
arrows.  After  they  had  thus  busied  themselves  for 
about  an  hour,  Don  Diego  laid  his  plans  before  them  in 
these  words :  "  We  will  go  immediately  to  the  white 
men's  camp  and  fall  upon  them  while  they  are  sleeping. 
My  brother,"  pointing  to  the  Zia  war  chief,  "  will  divide 
his  men  in  two  sections.  With  one  of  these  he  will  at 
tack  the  enemy  on  the  side  of  the  setting  sun.  With 
the  other  he  will  capture  the  horses  they  ride,  scalp  the 
men  in  charge  of  them  and  then  make  an  assault  on  the 
camp  on  the  side  of  the  Seven  Stars.  My  chief  lieuten 
ant  will  close  in  on  them  from  the  side  of  the  sun  at 
noon.  With  the  remaining  division  I  will  cut  off  their 
retreat  toward  the  morning  star.  We  will  slip  upon  them 
like  the  silver-tailed  fox  upon  his  prey  and  kill  them 
every  one.  The  time  has  come  when  we  must  do  the 
bidding  of  the  gods.  Let  us  be  moving." 


230  DON  DIEGO 

To  shift  to  the  Spanish  side:  After  Governor  Oter- 
min's  second  return  to  the  vicinity  of  El  Paso,  the 
Spaniards  made  no  more  entradas  into  the  northern 
country  for  many  years.  They,  however,  never  gave  up 
the  idea  of  reconquering  it.  Finally  by  order  of  the 
King  of  Spain,  Don  Pedro  Reneros  de  Pasada  [Posaoa] 
marched  against  the  apostate  Pueblos.  On  reaching  the 
Rio  Grande,  the  little  army  under  him  found  the  lower- 
middle  valley  deserted,  so  on  northward  they  continued 
their  march.  Reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Jemez  river, 
they  turned  up  it.  The  first  village  in  their  line  of 
march  was  Santa  Anna.  This  village  surrendered  to 
them,  after  most  of  the  inhabitants  had  fled  the  place. 
Here  Pasada  separated  his  force  into  two  sections.  One 
division  with  two  pieces  of  artillery  remained  at  the  vil 
lage  to  take  a  needed  rest  and  to  make  some  necessary 
repairs.  The  other  division,  accompanied  by  several 
Cochiti  scouts,  resumed  the  entrada,  taking  with  them 
their  cannon  and  a  large  quantity  of  ammunition. 

Jubilant  and  even  hilarious  over  their  past  success 
and  future  prospects,  the  latter  division  rode  slowly  up 
the  valley  for  hours  through  interminable  sagebrush  and 
dwarfed  cedar,  over  dunes  of  drifting  sand,  black  lava, 
and  adobe  clay,  or  over  the  dry,  sandy,  alkali-whitened 
bed  of  the  river  itself,  beneath  the  intolerable  burning 
glare  of  the  blazing  sun  of  that  region.  Not  a  living 
thing  met  their  gaze,  except  an  occasional  bird  which 
usually  squawked  or  chirped  as  it  flew  out  of  their 
course,  till  they  had  reached  the  black  promontory  of 
Si-yoU'kwaw,  the  site  of  modern  Zia.  Then  the  atten 
tion  of  all  was  suddenly  attracted  by  the  yelp,  yelp  of  a 
.silver-tailed  fox.  In  a  moment  the  cause  of  its  yelping 


DON  DIEGO  231 

was  determined.  A  hotly  pursued  rabbit  bounded  from 
the  brush  just  in  front  of  the  advancing  column.  The 
fox  was  right  on  the  rabbit's  heels.  His  mouth  was  open 
and,  with  every  jump,  it  seemed,  would  seize  the  pur 
sued  animal.  A  cavalier  made  to  kill  the  fox,  which 
was  so  eager  in  the  chase  as  to  see  nothing  except  its 
prey ;  but  Pasada  stayed  his  hand  and  said :  "  Let's  see 
the  unequal  contest  to  a  finish." 

"  As  sure  as  I  am  a  Spaniard,"  exclaimed  a  cavalry 
man  who  had  just  then  come  up,  "  I  believe  the  rabbit 
will  win  out!  " 

"  By  the  Holy  Mary,"  emphatically  spoke  up  an.  offi 
cer,  "  I'll  wager  my  day's  earnings  that  the  fox  catches 
the  rabbit!" 

"It's  a  go,"  quickly  rejoined  another  officer;  "I'll 
bet  two  days'  wages  that  the  fox  does  not  catch  the  rab 
bit." 

A  level  quarter  stretch  of  river  bottom  was  before  the 
chased  and  pursuer.  On  they  ran,  slower  and  slower 
they  got,  harder  they  panted:  yet  neither  gained  on  the 
other.  Every  time  the  fox  jumped  with  open  mouth  to 
seize  the  rabbit,  it  was  just  out  of  his  reach.  Slower 
and  slower  they  got.  One  could  have  walked  faster 
than  they  ran.  The  cavaliers,  excited,  followed.  Time 
and  again  they  staked  money  on  the  outcome.  Nearer 
and  nearer  they  approached  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
river. 

"  By  the  Virgin  Mary,"  exclaimed  Pasada,  "  that  chase 
is  a  presage  of  our  contest  with  the  Zias  and  Jemez." 

"  Which,  general,  represents  the  Indians  and  which 
us  ?  "  asked  an  aid. 

"  The  fox  represents  us,"  answered  Pasada. 


232  DON  DIEGO 

Just  at  that  moment  the  rabbit  gained  the  wood  and 
disappeared  from  view  for  a  few  minutes.  It  was  next 
seen  recrossing  the  river  bed  while  the  fox  was  still 
searching  the  thicket  for  it.  At  that  instant  a  Spanish 
soldier  raised  his  gun,  and,  before  the  officers  could  stop 
him,  deliberately  killed  the  unsuccessful  animal. 

As  the  staked  property  was  being  turned  over  to  the 
winners,  an  aid  turned  to  the  general  and  asked : 
"  Which  represents  us,  the  fox  or  the  rabbit?  " 

All  had  been  so  excited  in  the  chase  that  they  did  not 
notice  a  reddish-brown,  copper-colored  Indian  glide 
across  the  river  bed  some  distance  in  front  of  them. 
Neither  did  they  notice  the  rings  of  smoke  ascending 
from  the  vicinity  of  Mount  Negro. 

Arriving  at  Si-you-kwaw,  water  was  found  running  in 
the  river.  But  it  was  most  too  salty  to  drink.  A  search 
for  potable  water  was  ordered  and  in  a  short  time  a 
spring  of  clear,  sparkling,  fresh  water  was  found  in  a 
small  ravine  just  northwest  of  the  promontory.  Here 
all  quenched  their  thirst.  Then  being  both  tired  and 
hungry,  they  staked  their  horses  out  to  graze  and  pre 
pared  the  midday  meal,  or  rather  an  afternoon  lunch,  as 
it  was  then  an  hour  and  a  half  past  the  meridian  hour. 
When  prepared,  this  lunch  consisted  of  broiled  venison 
and  tortillas,  a  sort  of  stiff  pancake  which  the  Spanish- 
Americans  bake  on  a  flat  rock  over  the  fire. 

After  they  had  dined,  they  lounged  about  for  some 
time  on  the  adobe  flat  into  which  the  valley  opens  and 
told  stories  of  adventure  and  boasted  of  the  power  of 
Spain  and  of  how  easy  they  would  conquer  the  remain 
ing  Indians  of  the  valley. 

As  the  conversations  were  thus  going  on,  Sotero  de 


DON  DIEGO  233 

Vaca,  an  aid  who  had  been  taking  no  part  in  the  infor 
mal  talk,  turned  to  another  aid  and  remarked :  "  Sefior 
Sandaval,  will  General  Pasada  report  any  stubborn  re 
sistance  of  the  Indians  of  this  valley  to  the  King  of 
Spain,  should  they  oppose  us  ?  " 

"  No,  my  friend  Senor  Vaca,"  answered  Sandaval, 
"  the  general's  report  will  read :  '  We  have  visited  the 
villages  of  Santa  Anna,  Zia,  and  Jemez  and  converted 
the  Indians  to  Christianity.  They  are  your  subjects  and 
send  greeting  to  you :  "  Long  live  the  King  of  Spain." 
Their  treasures  are  yours.'  Whatever  will  be  the  op 
position  of  the  Indians  of  this  valley  to  our  progress 
there  will  never  be  a  mention  on  the  records  of  any  con 
flict  disastrous  to  us.  It  would  mar  our  good  record." 

"  By  the  Holy  Virgin,"  said  Vaca  after  a  minute's 
pause  and  reflection,  "  those  fellows  may  boast  all  they 
please,  but  for  me  I  am  getting  tired  of  this  business.  Is 
it  always  to  be  war  and  lonely  marches  with  us  and  no 
homes  and  nothing  but  honor?  I  am  getting  tired  of 
this  business,"  he  repeated  as  he  stretched  himself. 

After  the  men  had  sat  in  silence  a  moment,  Sandaval 
looked  at  Vaca  and  said :  "  To  change  the  subject,  they 
tell  me  that  the  Jemez  war-captain  is  a  fighter.  Have 
the  scouts  mentioned  it  to  you  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  Vaca,  "  they  told  the  general  in  my 
presence  that  Don  Diego,  I  believe  that  is  what  they  call 
him,  was  as  swift  as  a  deer  and  that  he  fought  like  a 
mountain  lion.  They  furthermore  stated  that  his  fame 
was  known  to  all  the  Indian  tribes  round  about.  The 
scouts  seem  to  think  that  the  Zias  who  number  thou 
sands  will  surrender  without  resistance,  but  that  the 
Jemez,  a  much  smaller  tribe,  will  have  to  be  conquered. 


234  DON  DIEGO 

So  we  will  probably  have  the  opportunity  to  meet  him 
face  to  face;  but,  gracious  me,  he  and  his  warriors  will 
not  last  long  before  our  cannon  and  guns." 

"  We  will  occupy  Zia  this  evening,  then  that  Jemez 
affair  will  be  a  breakfast  job,"  confidently  joined  in  an 
other  Spaniard  who  had  been  listening  to  Vaca  and  San- 
daval's  conversation. 

At  that  instant,  a  sign  from  the  priest  that  a  wounded 
comrade  was  dying  drew  the  attention  of  all.  A  mo 
ment  later,  at  the  bidding  of  the  padre,  the  cavaliers  all 
passed  one  after  another  before  the  improvised  stretcher 
and  took  a  last  look  at  the  departing  one.  As  they  thus 
passed,  some,  though  hardened  by  years  of  military 
service,  shed  tears  over  the  loss  of  their  friend  and  col 
league  in  war.  Many  praised  him  for  his  courage  and 
good  works.  Others  said :  "  God's  will  be  done.  May 
God  bless  you.  Good-by,  my  comrade." 

As  soon  as  life  had  left  the  body,  a  grave  was  quickly 
dug  and  the  veteran  of  many  years,  the  owner  of  many 
scars  obtained  in  building  up  the  power  and  glory  of 
Spain,  was  buried  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Catholic 
Church  and  the  honors  of  war  of  the  time. 

In  this  last  act,  lined  up  in  front  of  the  grave  with 
faces  turned  toward  the  afternoon  sun,  with  sword  and 
spears  at  their  sides  and  with  highly  polished  armor; 
armor  and  shields  polished  so  as  to  strike  awe  and  terror 
among  the  Indians.  As  they  thus  stood,  they  leveled 
their  heavy  matchlock  guns  across  the  "  rest  " —  a  kind 
of  forked  stick  or  staff,  and  holding  the  lighted  fuse  in 
their  hands,  waited  the  signal  to  fire  the  salute.  It  came 
when  the  priest  took  a  handful  of  dirt  and  sprinkled  it 
over  the  filled  grave,  saying :  "  Dust  thou  art  and  to 


DON  DIEGO  235 

dust  thou  shalt  return,"  etc.  An  eye  looked  down  each 
gun  barrel.  A  burning  fuse  was  touched  to  the  powder 
on  the  "  pan."  The  implements  of  destruction  belched 
forth  fire  and  smoke  toward  the  declining  sun  and  spoke 
in  thundering  tones  to  the  hills  and  mesas. 

Returning  from  the  burial,  all  anxiously  waited  the 
orders  of  the  chief  officer  to  advance.  Although  it  was 
then  three  hours  past  noon,  Zia  was  but  eleven  miles 
away;  and  if  the  simple-hearted  Indians  should  surren 
der,  thought  the  soldiers,  they  would  be  well  fed  and 
well  quartered  that  night.  And  if  the  aborigines  could 
not  be  deceived  and  made  believe  that  they  were  on  a 
friendly  mission,  well,  they  still  had  time  to  reduce  the 
place  before  dark.  Then  all  the  Indians  had  would  be 
theirs ;  and,  consequently,  they  would  be  better  quartered 
and  better  fed  than  ever.  Should  the  resistance  be  a 
stubborn  one,  they  could  at  least  surround  the  place  that 
night.  The  cannon  would  do  the  rest  in  the  morning. 
But  to  the  surprise  of  all,  General  Pasada  was  found  to 
be  averse  to  any  further  movement  that  day.  Said  he: 

"  We  have  taken  possession  of  one  place  to-day.  We 
are  all  tired.  We  have  plenty  of  provision,  such  as  it  is. 
Here  is  good  drinking  water  for  us  and  an  abundance 
of  grass  for  our  horses.  We  will  stay  here  in  camp  to 
night.  We  will  camp  on  the  promontory  there.  It  is 
better  for  us  to  stay  here.  Yonder  ridge  separates  us 
from  Jemez,  and  Zia  is  out  of  sight  around  that  point. 
Not  an  Indian  of  either  of  these  villages  knows  of  our 
approach.  We  will  rest  here  to-night.  In  the  early 
morning  when  the  Zia  men  are  in  the  fields  at  work,  we 
will  take  the  pueblo  by  surprise  and  enter  its  plaza  in 
peace  or  at  the  edge  of  the  sword.  To  the  natives  the 


236  DON  DIEGO 

end  will  be  the  same,  no  difference  how  we  enter  it. 
Take  the  cannon  and  baggage  to  the  top  of  the  little 
mesa-peninsula  and  make  camp." 

The  camping  ground,  as  planned,  was  a  small  square. 
A  large  vesicular  lava  bowlder,  weighing  a  hundred  tons, 
was  made  its  northeast  corner;  and  the  bowlders  of  the 
plat  [Si-you-kwaw  to  this  day  is  covered  with  round 
bowlders]  were  piled  upon  the  line  on  all  four  sides,  as  a 
breastwork.  When  the  camping  area  was  cleared,  can 
nons  were  placed  in  the  corners  of  the  square.  Tents 
were  then  pitched,  wood  was  carried  to  cook  with 
Beds,  with  saddles  for  pillows,  were  made  of  cedar,  pine, 
and  pifion  twigs,  over  which  a  blanket  or  robe  was 
spread.  Pickets  were  put  out  in  the  four  cardinal  di 
rections  to  protect  the  camp.  The  horses  were,  also, 
hobbled  out  to  graze. 

The  camp  preparations  being  completed,  the  men  took 
off  their  armor,  stacked  all  their  arms  except  their 
swords,  which  they  kept  at  their  sides.  They  then  pre 
pared  to  busy  themselves  at  cards.  This  they  did  till  sun 
set.  Then  at  the  bidding  of  the  padre,  all  gathered 
around  a  cross,  which  had  been  erected  in  the  center  of 
the  camp,  and  prayed  that  the  work  they  were  undertak 
ing  would  be  a  success,  that  the  Indians  of  the  valley 
would  again  become  loyal  subjects  of  the  King  of  Spain 
and  would  all  be  reconverted  to  Christianity. 

At  the  close  of  the  devotional  service  they  returned 
to  their  respective  quarters  to  prepare  the  evening  meal. 
This  was  soon  ready  and  all  squatted  around  a  common 
table,  a  table  having  the  bare  earth  for  a  tablecloth; 
and  all  reached  and  helped  themselves  to  the  things  be 
fore  them. 


DON  DIEGO  237 

As  soon  as  the  meal  was  eaten  the  men  retired  to 
their  respective  tents  and  in  a  few  minutes  all,  except 
the  pickets,  were  resting  in  sleep.  A  quiet  had  settled 
over  the  camp  like  the  calm  which  precedes  the  storm. 

On  the  Spaniards  slept.  The  fires  burned  out  one  by 
one  till  only  the  central  fire  remained  and  only  a  few 
coals  in  it  showed  signs  of  life.  The  silent  full  moon 
began  its  western  decline.  The  cold  wind  from  the 
Jemez  mountains  reached  the  fullness  of  its  power  and 
whistled  through  the  trees  and  shrubbery  of  the  mesa  and 
howled  over  the  sandy  wastes  of  the  valley. 

For  hours  all  was  still  save  the  shrill  whistle  of  the 
wind.  Then  the  dismal  yelp  of  a  coyote  was  heard  in 
the  dry  ravine  which  washes  Si-you^kwaw  on  the  east. 
Later  the  hideous  hoot  of  an  owl  broke  the  quiet  of  the 
river  valley  to  the  south.  While  a  turkey  gobbled  in 
the  pifion-red  cedar  brushwood  to  the  north.  The 
coyote  in  the  ravine  then  yelped  a  second  time  and  was 
answered  by  a  coyote  in  the  vicinity  west  of  the  camp. 
A  quiet  then  settled  over  the  place  for  some  minutes. 
Then  the  owl  of  the  valley  gave  a  weird  hoot  much 
nearer  the  camp  than  before.  The  coyotes  again  yelped 
and  the  turkeys  gobbled.  Their  positions  were  evi 
dently  changing.  As  was  indicated  by  the  yelps  and 
gobbles  they  were  all  moving  toward  one  central  point 
and  that  point  was  the  Spanish  camp.  A  quiet  again 
reigned  for  a  short  time.  Then  a  coyote  yelped  in  the 
midst  of  the  camp. 

Instantly  the  clash  came.  The  coyotes,  owls,  and 
gobblers  of  a  moment  before  rushed  upon  the  camp  from 
every  bush,  tree,  and  bowlder  as  shrieking,  howling, 
whooping  Indians  with  the  fury  of  demons.  They  leaped 


238  DON  DIEGO 

over  the  unprotected  breastwork.  They  captured  the 
stack  of  arms  and  took  possession  of  the  central  fire. 
They  killed  the  unsuspecting  Spaniards  in  their  beds. 
They  fought  hand  to  hand  with  unarmored  men  as  them 
selves.  They  took  scalp  after  scalp.  The  camp  was 
totally  in  their  power.  Only  a  few  minutes  more  and 
the  bloody  work  would  be  complete. 

Suddenly  the  scene  changed.  The  armored  pickets 
who  had  let  the  supposed  owls,  coyotes,  and  turkeys  pass 
them  unchallenged  made  a  bold  dash  to  rescue  their  com 
rades.  They  cleared  the  breastwork  in  front  of  them, 
cut  their  way  with  their  swords  to  the  stack  of  arms  and 
hewed  down  the  Indians  in  charge  of  them.  Then  with 
the  aid  of  a  few  other  Spaniards  who  had  succeeded  in 
obtaining  their  arms  and  armor,  they  had  begun  to  clear 
the  camp  when  a  surging  wave  of  savages  overwhelmed 
them.  Don  Diego  and  his  division  of  braves,  who  had 
been  held  in  reserve,  entered  the  arena  of  combat. 
Though  naked,  they  faced  the  armor-protected  men. 
Scores  of  them  went  down  before  the  keen-bladed  sword, 
yet  they  desperately  fought  on.  Their  arrows  and  their 
tomahawks  were  of  no  avail,  but  their  numbers  were. 
So  thickly  did  they  gather  around  the  swordsmen  that 
the  latter  could  not  use  their  deadly  weapons.  The  con 
test  became  a  wrestling  fight,  in  which  the  Indians  were 
evidently  winning.  They  wrenched  the  swords  from 
their  antagonists.  They  seized  them  by  the  helmet, 
arms,  and  legs,  or  around  their  bodies,  and  pulled  them  to 
the  ground.  They  crushed  them  to  death  with  cobble 
stones  and  heavy  Indian  war  clubs  or  dispatched  them 
with  the  tomahawk  through  the  joints  of  the  harness. 
Once  more  had  the  Indians  gained  the  ascendency  and 


DON  DIEGO  239 

the  camp  was  at  their  mercy.  But  only  for  a  moment 
was  it  so;  then  the  tide  was  reversed. 

With  firebrand  in  hand  Pasada  rushed  unnoticed  past 
the  contending  multitude  and  ignited  the  fuse  of  one  of 
the  loaded  cannons,  then  to  another,  and  then  to  a  third. 
Instantly  the  discharges  came.  The  tongues  of  fire  and 
smoke  leaped  forth,  the  ground  trembled,  and  the  deep 
detonations  shook  the  air.  The  effect  among  the  Indian 
ranks  was  appalling.  Instantly  the  Spaniards  took  ad 
vantage  of  the  opportunity.  They  made  a  dash  for  the 
stack  of  arms,  recaptured  them,  clothed  themselves  in 
armor,  seized  their  guns,  lighted  their  fuses  from  the 
central  fire  and  commenced  shooting  at  random  among 
the  charging  Indians.  Time  with  the  Spaniards  was 
precious.  The  cannons  at  Santa  Anna  had  answered 
the  signals  of  distress  fired  by  General  Pasada.  Could 
they  hold  out  one  hour,  succor  would  be  at  hand.  The 
cannoneers  hurriedly  reloaded  the  cannons.  With  a 
lighted  fuse,  one  of  their  number  started  to  ignite  the 
powder.  He  reached  the  cannon  near  the  big  bowlder. 
He  bent  to  touch  off  the  deadly  weapon.  His  time  had 
come.  Thud  went  a  war  club  and  he  was  dead  at  Don 
Diego's  feet.  With  a  quick  movement,  Don  Diego  then 
seized  the  firebrand,  and  leaping  over  the  piles  of  dead 
and  dying,  fired  the  tents  before  the  Spaniards  noticed 
that  the  burning  fuse  had  changed  hands. 

In  a  moment  all  was  enveloped  in  flames.  The  pine, 
red  cedar,  and  pifion  twigs  of  which  the  beds  were  made 
added  to  the  conflagration.  Even  the  needles  of  the 
pifions  and  the  standing  cedars  took  fire.  And  the  bags 
of  powder  which  the  Spaniards  had  brought  with  them 
exploded.  For  a  moment  all  was  confusion.  Then 


240  DON  DIEGO 

both  Don  Diego  and  Pasada  were  heard  calling  their 
men  to  action.  It  was  an  awful  moment  for  each.  Had 
either  any  warriors  to  call  to  action!  A  few  minutes 
told  the  story.  A  mere  handful  was  the  remaining 
Spaniards ;  a  hundred,  the  Indians  right  at  hand. 

Everywhere  Pasada  seemed  present.  Courageously, 
he  shouted  to  his  cavaliers :  "  In  the  name  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  fight  for  your  lives,  fight  for  the  king  of  Spain, 
fight  for  the  God  of  heaven.  Fight!  Though  less  than 
our  adversaries  in  numbers,  we  are  more  than  they  in 
might.  Charge  upon  them.  Cut  them  down  with  your 
swords.  Our  comrades  are  coming  to  our  rescue.  The 
cannons  at  Santa  Anna  have  so  declared  it.  In  the  name 
of  the  Holy  Mary,  fight.  God  is  on  our  side;  fight  in 
his  name." 

In  like  manner  Don  Diego  seemed  to  be  everywhere. 
"  In  the  name  of  those  above,"  he  called  to  his  braves, 
"  fight  for  your  lives,  for  your  wives  and  children. 
Fight  for  our  house  of  worship.  Fight  for  our  gods. 
Fight  like  men,  not  as  squaws.  We  have  killed  the 
enemy,  nearly  all.  Verify  my  statements  with  your 
eyes.  You  have  put  them  to  death  with  your  own  hands. 
At  hand  we  are  ten  times  more  than  they  and  the  Zia 
war-captain  with  one  division  of  our  men  is  momentarily 
expected.  Fight  that  the  victory  will  be  complete. 
Fight  that  when  your  father  comes  on  the  wings  of  the 
morning,  he  may  look  down  on  us  triumphant.  Fight 
that  the  sun  will  own  us  as  his  children.  In  the  name 
of  all  the  gods  of  our  fathers  charge  upon  the  enemies. 
The  scalps  of  these  men  are  yours:  take  them  that  with 
to-day's  sun  you  may  hang  them  as  trophies  in  the  houses 
of  our  gods.  Those  above  are  for  us:  fight  in  their 


DON  DIEGO  241 

strength.  Fight  that  the  great  Pest-ya-sode  may  own 
us  as  his  brothers.  Rush  upon  the  enemy.  Drag  them 
to  the  ground.  Crush  them  to  death  with  cobble  stones 
and  the  deadly  war  club.  Your  father  is  coming.  The 
first  rays  of  the  morning  herald  his  approach.  Scalp  the 
last  enemy  before  the  great  father  looks  down  upon  us 
from  the  holy  mountains  at  his  rising." 

The  medecine  man  began  to  beat  his  drum  behind  the 
big  bowlder.  The  braves  leaped  forward  like  mountain 
lions  upon  their  prey.  The  mortal  conflict  was  on  again. 
Twice  a  Spaniard  started  with  lighted  fuse  to  fire  the 
cannons,  twice  the  flaming  implement  was  snatched  from 
his  hand.  A  third  time  he  started,  reached  the  cannon 
by  the  big  bowlder  and  ignited  it,  just  as  Don  Diego's 
club  brought  him  to  the  ground.  The  cannon  discharge 
came.  Several  Indians  were  killed.  The  remainder 
wavered  for  an  instant  only.  The  Jemez  war-captain 
rallied  them  in  the  name  of  those  above.  In  a  moment 
they  were  fighting  more  courageously  than  before.  Pa- 
sada  and  his  now  few  remaining  men,  driven  to  the  last 
extremity,  made  a  bold  dash  for  their  horses,  hoping, 
now  that  it  was  daylight,  to  escape  from  the  Indians  in 
flight.  Leaving  their  dead  and  dying  behind,  over  the 
breastworks  they  leaped  and  down  the  precipitous  west 
ern  side  of  the  mesa  they  ran,  slid,  or  tumbled.  Reach 
ing  the  "  flat "  by  the  spring,  they,  hotly  pursued,  were 
making  their  greatest  possible  speed,  when,  quick  as  a 
flash  of  lightning,  consternation  filled  the  hearts  of  them 
all. 

The  neighing  of  steeds  and  the  horrifying  noise  made 
by  horses  in  the  throes  of  death  on  the  battle-field  told 
them  too  plainly  that  the  helpless  animals,  helpless  be- 


242  DON  DIEGO 

cause  hobbled  or  staked,  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
Indians  and  were  being  slaughtered  by  them.  Hardly 
had  the  Spaniards  time  to  think  before  the  butchery  of 
the  horses  was  completed. 

At  once  the  Zia  braves  rushed  from  the  slaughter  of 
horses  to  the  slaughter  of  men.  As  they  gave  the  hide 
ous,  terrifying  Zia  war  whoop,  they  closed,  in  the  Spanish 
front. 

"  All  is  lost!  "  shouted  Pasada  to  his  comrades.  "If 
we  must  die,  let's  die  like  men.  If  we  must  die,  may 
these  children  of  the  sun  have  plenty  of  evidence  that 
we  have  lived." 

Scarcely  were  the  words  uttered,  when  the  savages 
assailed  them  from  all  sides.  For  a  few  minutes  the 
swords  were  busy.  For  a  few  moments  the  exclama 
tions:  "Per  Dios!  By  the  Holy  Mary!"  "By  the 
Mother  of  Jesus !  "  "  In  the  name  of  the  Holy  Virgin !  " 
and  the  prayer,  "  Holy  Mary,  Mother  of  Jesus,  pray  for 
us,"  filled  the  air.  Then  all  was  still,  save  the  yelps  of 
the  victorious  Indians. 

Pasada  was  still  alive,  but  his  cavaliers  were  all  dead 
and  scalped.  The  Indians  surged  around  him  like  the 
stormy  waves  round  a  rock  at  sea.  He  was  withed  to  a 
pifion  tree.  Around  him  a  great  quantity  of  wood  was 
quickly  piled,  as  the  warriors  leaped  into  the  air,  swung 
their  tomahawks,  gashed  the  tree  on  all  sides  of  him, 
and  yelled  the  blood-curdling  yell  of  the  war  dance.  Don 
Diego  ignited  the  wood.  Then  after  brandishing  his  In 
dian  hatchet  in  the  captain's  face  for  a  few  minutes,  he 
hurled  the  weapon  with  all  his  strength  so  that  it  just 
missed  the  prisoner's  head  and  stuck  in  the  tree  above  it. 
Quickly  the  smoke  enveloped  the  helpless  man  and  the 


DON  DIEGO  243 

tongues  of  flame  began  to  leap  up  in  his  face.  A  puff 
of  smoke  strangled  him.  Getting  his  breath,  he  was 
startled  by  the  command :  "  Per  Dios,  Charge,  comrades, 
charge.  In  the  name  of  the  Mother  of  Jesus,  charge." 
It  was  General  Otero's  voice. 

Around  the  southwest  point  of  Si-you-kwaw  galloped 
one  hundred  armored  horses  and  men.  A  moment  Pa- 
sada  thought  he  was  dreaming.  On  charged  the  invin 
cible  Spaniards.  The  Zia  war-captain  was  killed,  Don 
Diego  was  taken  prisoner,  and  Pasada  was  snatched 
from  a  most  horrible  death.  But  the  end  of  the  battle 
was  not  yet  come.  The  desperate  Indians  fought  to  res 
cue  their  war-captain.  Not  an  inch  did  the  Spaniards 
gain  but  it  was  at  once  retaken.  Time  and  again  was 
the  ground  fought  over.  Horses'  legs  were  broken. 
Riders  were  dragged  from  their  saddles.  Hurled  cobble 
stones  broke  their  shields.  The  war  club  crushed  their 
armor.  From  front  and  rear  and  from  every  side  the 
Indians  closed  in  on  them. 

Knowing  that  Don  Diego  was  the  soul  and  heart  of 
his  people  and  believing  that  he  was  the  cause  of  the 
terrible  onslaughts,  Pasada  ordered  him  on  the  penalty 
of  being  burned  at  the  stake  to  command  his  warriors 
to  stop  fighting  and  to  become  submissive  subjects  of  the 
King  of  Spain. 

Bound  hand  and  foot,  Don  Diego  was  carried  to  the 
front  where  the  fiercest  contest  was  being  waged.  The 
Indians  ceased  fighting.  The  Spaniards  waited  the  cap 
tive  to  speak.  A  breathless  silence  took  possession  of  all, 
as  Don  Diego  lifted  his  chained  hands  to  heaven.  A 
moment  he  paused.  Then  as  he  took  a  firm  look  at  the 
rising  sun,  he  began  to  address  the  braves; 


244  DON  DIEGO 

"  My  brothers,  the  white  war-captain  bids  me  com 
mand  you  to  lay  down  your  arms  and  become  subjects 
to  his  people.  This  he  has  ordered  me  to  do,  upon  the 
penalty  of  my  life.  But  what  is  my  life  compared  to  the 
lives  and  liberties  of  my  people.  Your  brother  flinches 
not.  His  heart  is  not  the  heart  of  a  squaw,  but  that  of  a 
warrior.  These  men  can  kill  him,  but  the  great  Pest- 
ya-sode  will  give  him  his  reward.  In  the  name  of  those 
above  fight  till  the  Great  Father  calls  you  to  his  man 
sions  in  the  sun." 

The  horrible  war  whoop  told  that  the  expedient  had 
failed.  Forward  rushed  the  infuriated  savages.  Don 
Diego  was  rescued  and  the  guards  in  charge  of  him  were 
either  killed  or  taken  prisoners.  The  Indians  shrieked 
and  danced  for  joy.  The  old  medicine  man  beat  the 
drum  more  vigorously  than  before.  At  once  Don  Di 
ego  made  himself  felt  again  everywhere.  Harder  and 
harder  and  fiercer  and  fiercer  the  braves  fought.  They 
worsted  the  Spaniards  on  every  side.  At  last  the  latter 
wavered,  then  fled. 

The  Spanish  record  of  this  entrada  reads :  "  On  Oc 
tober  8,  1687  (or  1688,  according  to  some  authors),  Don 
Pedro  Reneros  de  Pasada  fought  the  Queres,  burned  tents 
at  Zia,  and  captured  ten  people  who  were  later  sold  as 
slaves  to  work  in  the  mines  in  northwestern  Mexico. 
He  then  abandoned  the  region."  (Bancroft's  History, 
vol.  on  Arizona  and  New  Mexico.) 

But  Zia  was  doomed. 

For  a  short  time  after  this  battle  the  valley  had  peace. 
Then  the  Spaniards  came  again.  They  reached  the 
valley  in  1689.  Under  Jironza  de  Cruzat,  who  had  suc 
ceeded  Pasada,  they  attacked  and  destroyed  Santa  Anna, 


DON  DIEGO  245 

the  Santa  Annas  under  Ojeda  fleeing  to  Zia.  Cruzat  did 
not  sleep.  He  pursued  the  fleeing  refugees  and  in  a  des 
perate  battle  defeated  the  combined  forces  of  Zia  and 
Santa  Anna  at  the  former's  village,  set  fire  to  the  huts, 
killed  600  aborigines,  captured  seventy  prisoners,  who, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  old  men,  were  burned  or 
shot  or  both.  Many  other  natives  allowed  themselves  to 
be  burned  to  death  in  their  homes  rather  than  submit. 

The  Zias  had  intended  to  seek  the  Jemez  for  aid  in  this 
battle ;  but  Ojeda,  being  an  enemy  of  the  Jemez  war-cap 
tain,  opposed  the  measure,  saying  that  Don  Diego  was 
a  treacherous  Indian  and  more  to  be  feared  than  the 
Spaniards.  Don  Diego  knew  not  this.  On  hearing  the 
cannon  and  seeing  the  signals  of  smoke  from  Mount 
Negro,  he  quickly  gathered  his  braves  and  marched  down 
the  valley.  He  sought  to  aid  his  neighbors  to  stay  the 
northern  march  of  the  pale-faces,  if  possible.  Zia,  how 
ever,  was  taken  before  he  could  reach  the  place;  and  the 
Spaniards  were  busily  engaged  in  gathering  in  the  spoils. 
Not  knowing  that  a  new  foe  was  at  hand,  they  were  sur 
prised  and  routed  in  the  early  twilight  and,  finally  after 
a  fierce  contest,  were  compelled  to  abandon  the  country. 
The  Jemez  now  were  masters  of  the  valley.* 

*  Author's  license.  Some  authors  state  that  this  battle  was 
fought  near  Santa  Anna.  This  refers  to  the  battle  of  Si-you-kwaw, 
as  here  named. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  lone  woman  in  the  cave  regained  consciousness. 
She  sat  up.  Where  was  she?  She  fumbled  the 
floor  about  her.  Her  hand  touched  the  yet  hot  ashes. 
She  remembered  it  all  then.  She  had  seen  dead  people. 
Was  she  not  in  the  land  of  the  shades!  She  felt  of  her 
fingers  and  her  body  to  see  if  she  was  still  a  living  be 
ing.  She  breathed  on  her  hands.  She  even  hallooed, 
but  the  reverberating  sound  affrighted  her.  She  rose  to 
her  feet  in  terror,  but  sat  down  quickly  again :  for  where 
would  she  go.  She  meditated  a  few  minutes.  Her  hand 
accidently  touched  the  hot  ashes  again.  She  would 
make  another  fire,  she  at  once  decided.  She  gathered 
some  more  splints.  She  blew  her  breath  gently  on  the 
ashes  as  she  stirred  them  till  finally  one  single  live  coal 
was  found.  This  she  kept  under  constant  breath-pres 
sure  till  she  had  carefully  piled  the  splints  on  it  and  had 
caused  it  to  blaze  and  ignite  them.  On  these  she  then 
placed  two  or  three  small  slivers.  Then  she  buried  her 
face  in  her  hands.  Shuddering  and  her  teeth  chatter 
ing,  she  finally  opened  her  eyes ;  but  her  attention  was  at 
once  attracted  from  the  ghastly  forms  at  her  feet  to  a 
chisled  mark  on  the  wall.  She  looked  at  it.  She  knew 
it.  It  was  the  lodge  sign  of  the  Pueblo  order  she  had 
once  been  a  member  of.  It  was  always  placed  opposite 
the  entrance  to  the  hall.  She  had  the  clue.  She  knew 

the  direction  she  should  go. 

246 


DON  DIEGO  247 

She  gathered  up  the  pieces  of  the  stick  she  had  broken 
and  which  had  not  yet  been  burned.  The  larger  sticks 
she  split  into  finer  ones  by  means  of  an  Indian  hatchet 
head  which  she  found  lying  upon  the  floor.  A  few  of 
these  she  ignited  and,  carrying  the  rest  with  her  in  her 
dress  skirt,  she  started  for  the  entrance.  Forward  she 
moved  as  rapidly  as  she  could,  not  to  extinguish  her 
torch  by  the  movement.  As  the  sticks  burned,  she  added 
another  from  her  scanty  lot,  making  each  one  burn  as 
long  as  possible.  She  had  burned  half  of  the  sticks, 
when  she  came  to  a  small  pool  of  water  in  one  of  the 
rooms  through  which  she  was  passing.  Laying  down 
the  torch,  she  quenched  her  thirst  from  the  cool  waters. 
As  she  was  drinking,  the  torch  ceased  to  blaze;  and  on 
resuming  her  journey,  she  had  to  blow  her  breath  on  the 
few  live  coals  quite  a  little  before  a  blaze  could  be  pro 
duced  again.  She  felt  stronger  now  that  her  thirst  was 
quenched  and  walked  more  briskly.  She  had  gone  quite 
a  distance,  when  her  eye  suddenly  discovered  fresh  ashes 
on  the  floor.  She  was  going  the  wrong  way  again. 
She  was  going  back  into  the  far  recesses  of  the  cave 
a  second  time.  She  turned  about  and  retraced  her  steps 
to  the  pool  of  water.  She  then  was  reassured  and  hur 
riedly  passed  on  from  room  to  room.  She  took  the  last 
stick  from  her  dress  skirt  and  added  it  to  the  two  sticks 
still  blazing  in  her  hands.  She  hurried  on.  The  sticks 
burned  down  to  mere  stubs.  She  held  them  between 
thumb  and  finger  till  only  the  points  were  left  and  they 
had  scorched  her  fingers.  She  dropped  them  to  the 
adamant  floor.  Her  heart  was  in  a  tremulous  agitation 
lest  in  the  darkness  she  would  lose  her  way  again,  when, 
oh,  exultation!  Light  appeared  in  front  of  her;  and, 


248  DON  DIEGO 

with  a  few  quick  steps,  she  found  herself  once  more  on 
the  platform  overlooking  the  valley. 

The  scene  had  wholly  changed.  Not  a  sound  could  be 
heard  in  the  canon  depths,  not  a  person  could  be  seen,  as 
she  stood  there  in  the  full  light  of  the  rising  sun  and 
prayed  to  it,  her  god  and  her  preserver.  The  valley  had 
been  vacated  and  she  was  safe  to  do  what  she  liked  for 
the  present,  so  far  as  the  vigilance  of  man  was  concerned. 
Immediately,  she  began  to  search  the  cliff  to  see  if  there 
was  any  possible  way  by  which  she  could  climb  to  the 
top  of  the  mesa  from  the  cliff  shelf;  but  discovered  none. 
She  then  began  to  scan  the  rock  wall  to  find  the  best 
place  of  descent.  After  making  up  her  mind  which  of 
two  possible  routes  was  the  better,  she  climbed  and 
shelfed  it  down  and  down  till  she  found  herself  once 
more  on  the  valley  floor. 

She  had  drawn  a  long  breath  of  relief,  when  a  groan 
attracted  her  attention.  She  went  to  the  spot  where  she 
had  heard  the  exclamation  of  pain  and  there  in  a  chink 
in  the  rock  was  an  Indian  lying  in  a  semi-conscious  con 
dition.  She  looked  at  him  a  moment.  Then  as  she 
herself  was  hungry  almost  unto  death,  she  went  to  a 
near-by  field  and,  after  searching  about  for  a  few  minutes, 
she  found  a  stray  ear  of  corn  that  had  been  accidentally 
left  at  the  husking  time.  This  she  eagerly  ate,  and  con 
tinued  her  search  for  food,  till  she  had  gathered  an  arm 
load  of  corn.  She  also  found  a  cast-away  gourd-dip 
per. 

As  she  was  thus  gathering  food  and  satisfying  her 
hunger,  she  kept  thinking  of  the  Indian  in  the  niche.  He 
undoubtedly  was  the  brave  who  had  fallen  from  the  wall 
the  night  they  sought  to  take  her  life  away ;  and,  believ- 


DON  DIEGO  249 

ing  him  dead,  they  had  cast  him  into  the  place  where  he 
now  lay  and  then  left.  She  was  alone  with  the  supposed 
dead  but  he  was  still  alive.  She  felt  sleepy  after  satis 
fying  her  appetite;  but  before  she  would  allow  her  eyes 
to  close,  she  must  go  and  see  what  she  could  do  for  the 
suffering  one  and  also  look  after  her  own  safety.  Should 
she  yet  fall  into  the  hands  of  Kilpe,  her  life  would  be 
wrenched  from  her  in  the  most  horrible  manner  that  that 
heartless  husband  could  conjure  up.  She  rilled  the  cup 
with  water  and,  going  down  into  the  sepulcher,  lifted 
the  groaning  man's  head  and  gave  him  a  sip  from  the 
cup  and  then  another  and  another  till  he  wished  no  more. 
Then  she  built  a  fire  and  parched  some  corn.  This  she 
crushed  to  powder  between  two  rocks,  and,  making  a 
gruel  out  of  it,  gave  it  to  him  to  eat.  With  great  diffi 
culty,  she  then  lifted  him  out  of  the  place  and  carried 
him  to  a  little  sheltered  nook.  Here  she  made  him  a  bed 
of  cornhusks  and  grass  and  builded  a  little  shelter-pro 
tection,  also  lighted  a  fire  close  by  him  in  the  hurriedly 
erected  wigwam.  These  things  being  done,  she  then 
rubbed  him  and  worked  with  him  till  far  into  the  night 
following,  though  she  knew  it  was  he  who  had  tried  to 
scale  the  walls  to  capture  her  for  the  purpose  of  burn 
ing  her  at  the  stake  that  fateful  night;  but  he  was  drunk 
then.  At  last,  he  opened  his  eyes  and  looked  about  in 
telligently.  Suddenly  he  shuddered  and  shrieked  when 
he  got  a  glimpse  of  the  feminine  face  that  was  bending 
over  him. 

"  O  my  gods,"  he  groaned,  "  why  torment  me  in  the 
land  of  the  dead.  I  was  drunk.  I  did  not  know  what  I 
was  doing.  Do  not  torment  me.  Take  this  woman's 
face  from  me.  Had  I  have  been  sober,  I  would  not 


250  DON  DIEGO 

have  wanted  to  help  burn  her.  O  my  gods,  have  mercy 
and  not  torment  me  more." 

Geetlu  talked  to  him  and  told  him  that  he  was  not  in 
the  land  of  .the  departed  spirits,  but  living  and  that  she 
was  alive  and  unhurt.  She  further  told  him  that  she  had 
escaped  being  burned  and  that  he  had  fallen  and  got 
terribly  hurt,  but  she  thought  he  would  recover.  After 
a  time  he  began  to  recall  the  incidents  the  night  of  the 
big  tulipie-drunk,  one  by  one.  He  wanted  to  talk  on  to 
her,  but  she  told  him  it  would  be  best  for  him  to  keep 
quiet.  She  then  gave  him  some  more  food,  after  which 
both  were  soon  fast  asleep. 

Morning  came  and  after  Geetlu  had  prepared  break 
fast,  having  succeeded  in  killing  a  "  fool  hen  "  and  a 
rabbit  in  the  early  dawn,  she  sat  down  and  gave  the  in 
valid  his  breakfast,  sitting  by  him  and  giving  him  morsel 
after  morsel  as  he  eagerly  ate  as  much  as  she  thought  he 
ought  to  have.  He  said  nothing  while  he  ate  and  noth 
ing  till  after  she  had  eaten  her  own  breakfast.  Hav 
ing  finished  her  meal,  she  came  and  sat  on  the  ground 
close  by  his  couch.  He  looked  at  her  and  said :  "  You 
are  Geetlu.  I  tried  to  kill  you.  Now  you  save  my  life. 
Bad  man  I  am.  You  good  woman." 

"  Don't  talk  about  it,"  said  Geetlu,  as  she  waved  her 
hand  for  him  to  drop  the  unpleasant  subject.  "  I  must 
leave  you  this  morning,"  she  continued.  "  I  must  leave 
this  valley  and  this  land.  I  have  gathered  you  wood 
and  corn  and  you  may  also  have  this  meat.  I  will  leave 
these  things  in  your  reach.  I  have  also  found  an  old 
tus.  This  I  have  filled  with  water  and  will  place  it  in 
your  reach  too.  No,  no  use  (he  had  been  about  to  ad 
dress  her  again),  I  cannot  stay  here.  I  must  climb  over 


DON  DIEGO  251 

yonder  mountains  to  my  home  beyond  them.  To  stay 
here  is  death.  My  cruel  husband,  Kilpe,  will  use  every 
means  at  his  command  to  carry  out  his  heinous  designs. 
He  shall  not  burn  me  — " 

The  sick  man,  who  was  known  as  Noskelzhohn,  in  a 
great  effort,  here  interrupted  her :  "  You  could  never 
get  over  yonder  mountain.  This  river  is  '  boxed/  and 
the  mesas  are  crossed  and  transversely  crossed  by  a  maze 
of  steep  canons.  Furthermore,  at  this  time  of  year  you 
would  freeze  to  death." 

"  But  Kilpe,"  rejoined  Geetlu. 

"  Kilpe,  your  husband,"  continued  Noskelzhohn, 
"  Kilpe  will  never  burn  you  or  harm  a  hair  of  your  head. 
Kilpe  is  dead.  He  drowned  in  the  river.  I  saw  him 
drown  with  my  own  eyes.  Yes,  he  is  dead,  and  you  are 
a  free  woman." 

Geetlu  jumped  up  and  down  and  yelled.  For  the  first 
time  in  many  years  she  felt  real  joy  take  possession  of 
her  inmost  soul. 

Her  exclamations  were  answered  by  Indians  in  the 
distance;  and  before  she  had  time  to  conceal  herself,  the 
little  wigwam  was  filled  with  people.  But  instead  of  try 
ing  to  seize  her,  as  she  expected,  they  stood  about  her 
and  stared,  with  open  mouth.  Then  without  saying  a 
word  they  left  the  tepee.  Without,  they  were  heard  to 
have  a  prolonged  talk  among  themselves.  For  a  long 
time  they  talked,  while  Geetlu  quaked  with  fear  within 
the  Indian  hut  and  peered  out  for  some  possible  egress 
of  escape.  Finally,  one  of  the  Indians  came  back  into 
the  wigwam  and  went  and  felt  of  N/oskelzhohn  and  also 
conversed  with  him  to  make  sure  that  he  was  alive  and 
that  they  had  not  every  one  of  them  seen  dead  people 


DON  DIEGO 

(ghosts).  He  then  returned  to  the  people  without  the 
wigwam. 

Another  prolonged  talk  followed.  Then  all  returned 
to  the  tepee.  The  leader  placed  his  hand  on  Geetlu's 
head,  as  she  shuddered.  But  he  assured  her  by  the  look 
on  his  face  that  he  meant  not  to  seize  her.  "  My  sis 
ter,"  he  commenced,  "  this  our  brother  was  dead  and  we 
buried  him  according  to  our  customs  and  our  women 
have  been  mourning  his  death  at  morning,  noon,  and  night 
for  four  days  now.  And  here,  you  have  brought  him 
back  to  life.  You  are  a  great  medicine  woman,  the 
greatest  of  our  tribe.  We  welcome  you  as  our  sister 
and  medicine  woman.  You  climbed  up  that  rock  wall 
like  a  squirrel  and  disappeared  as  though  swallowed  up 
in  the  abyss  above ;  then  you  come  back  and  restore  our 
brother  to  life  after  he  had  been  dead  and  buried.  You 
are  the  great  medicine  woman.  We  welcome  you." 

"  But,  my  brother,"  broke  in  Geetlu,  "  I  must  leave 
this  place.  Kilpe's  people  will  kill  me,  will  burn  me." 

"  Leave  that  to  us,  sister.  This  man  here  is  my 
brother,  this  man  whom  you  have  brought  back  to  life. 
We  have  already  sent  a  messenger  to  purchase  you  from 
his  (Kilpe's)  relatives.  We  will  pay  the  price.  You  are 
now  free  from  them  and  you  may  live  with  us  as  our 
sister.  My  brother  is  unmarried.  If  you  choose,  you 
may  be  his  wife;  but  you  may  do  as  you  choose.  We 
will  tell  no  one  of  your  whereabouts  till  we  have  turned 
over  the  property  for  you.  So  you  may  consider  your 
self  safe.  We  leave  this  provision  with  you  and  leave 
you  here  with  our  brother  till  we  come  again.  Our  sister 
here  will  also  remain  to  aid  you." 

Two  days  passed  and  they  returned  and  Geetlu  was 


DON  DIEGO  253 

wholly  free  so  far  as  Kilpe's  relatives  were  concerned; 
but,  of  course,  yet  a  prisoner,  as  she  very  well  knew. 
Three  days  later,  she  was  again  at  the  camp  at  the  forks 
of  the  river,  the  wife  of  Noskelzhohn.  She  was  wel 
comed  as  a  wonderful  woman:  even  Kilpe's  relatives 
were  not  bitter  against  her.  Bedessendaha  came  running 
to  meet  her,  as  she  arrived ;  and,  taking  her  in  her  arms, 
exclaimed :  "  One  day  all  wished  to  kill  you.  To-day 
you  are  big  medicine  woman.  We  all  welcome  you." 

Geetlu  could  hardly  believe  her  senses.  She  could 
hardly  realize  that  she  was  the  person  whom  all  were 
lauding.  She  did  not  know  what  they  meant  by  calling 
her  a  medicine  woman  until  one  day  when  she  was  called 
upon  to  "  doctor  "  a  little  girl.  On  being  summoned, 
she  at  first  refused  to  go,  stating  that  she  was  still  tired 
from  her  trip  and,  furthermore,  knew  nothing  about  heal 
ing  the  sick.  But  a  refusal  would  not  be  accepted:  be 
sides  the  clan  to  which  the  little  girl  belonged,  pledged 
her  more  corn  than  she  had  raised  altogether  if  she  would 
effect  a  cure.  Finally  she  told  them  that  she  would  go; 
but  that  she  wished  no  pay  for  it;  she  would  go  for  the 
benefit  of  her  fellows  and  not  for  pay. 

She  went  and  performed  over  the  patient  in  a  sort 
of  crude  massage ;  also  gave  her  herb  tea  to  drink :  and 
in  a  few  days  she  had  completely  recovered. 

Soon  after  this,  a  dance  was  given  in  honor  of  the 
medicine  woman,  as  Geetlu  was  then  called.  It  was  a 
social  affair,  like  those  where  the  unmarried  squaws 
choose  their  husbands.  The  Indian  whisky  was  made 
and  the  wood  carried  for  a  central  fire;  all  dances  with 
the  Apaches  are  held  at  night.  As  dusk  began  to  claim 
the  land,  the  populace  gathered  and  squatted  on  the  bare 


254 


DON  DIEGO 


ground  in  a  large  circle  around  the  central  blaze  of  the 
fire  which  had  now  been  started.  The  chanters  also 
gathered  and  squatted  themselves  in  a  bunch  within  the 
circle  to  the  northwest  of  the  now  huge  burning  heap. 
A  captured  Mexican  pot  with  a  rawhide  stretched  over 
its  open  face  served  as  a  drum;  a  willow  stick  with  the 
beating  end  bent  and  tied  into  a  circular  loop,  served  as 
a  drumstick.  The  leading  medicine  man,  the  chief  of 
ceremonies  of  the  night,  placed  his  elbows  on  his  knees 
and  his  face  between  his  hands,  and  began  to  chant :  "  ya 
a  a  a  a  ya,"  to  which  all  the  other  chanters  joined  in 
before  the  chorus  was  reached. 


MEDICINE  SONG 


Yah  ah  a    ah  a    ah,  yah  ah  a    ah    a.,  ah,  yah  ah  a    ah 


a      ah     a   ah,  yah  be-kud-de  yid  ah  she  yo    e  hay  nah. 

As  the  dance  began,  Geetlu,  the  queen  of  the  occasion, 
the  woman  of  the  hour,  walked  forward  within  the  circle 
from  the  northeast  horizon  mark.  She  was  dressed  in 
her  best  attire  of  buckskin  skirt  and  overlapping  loose 
waist  of  the  same  material,  all  fringed  and  painted  and 
beaded.  In  her  right  hand  she  carried  a  medicine  danc 
ing  stick,  some  four  feet  in  length,  on  which  was  carved 
the  likeness  of  the  god  of  pleasure  who  is  supposed  to  live 
and  dance  around  Chromo  Butte  of  the  Apache  moun 
tains.  After  she  had  walked  forward  to  the  fire,  she 


DON  DIEGO  255 

began  a  light  tripping  dance  in  a  straight  line  in  first  a 
backward  and  then  a  forward  movement  to  the  time  of 
the  music,  the  "  sweep "  covering  practically  a  radius 
of  the  inclosed  circle.  After  she  had  danced  back  and 
forth  a  few  times,  she  was  joined  by  other  women  to 
the  number  of  five  or  seven.  Other  groups  then  formed 
till  the  whole  circle  was  filled  with  dancers,  all  facing 
the  central  fire  and  lightly  tripping  backward  and  for 
ward.  The  music  ceased,  to  be  resumed  in  a  moment. 
New  sets  were  formed,  to  use  our  modern  terms.  Each 
unmarried  woman  (only  single  women  are  supposed  to 
dance  in  the  dancing  groups,  though  men  may  dance 
even  if  they  have  a  dozen  wives)  then  went  to  the  chant 
ing  group  and  the  group  of  men  squatted  on  the  ground 
on  the  circumferential  margin  of  the  circle  and  picked 
out  the  partners  with  whom  they  wished  to  dance,  some 
times  being  refused  and  compelled  to  dance  a  set  alone, 
as  a  brownish-red  blush  covered  the  face.  The  chosen 
one  faced  his  partner,  a  group  of  women  faced  a  group 
of  men,  and  all  tripped  backward  and  forward  as  the 
women  had  formerly  done ;  the  men,  of  course,  were  trip 
ping  backward  when  the  women  were  tripping  forward, 
and  vice  versa;  none  touching  hands  as  in  civilized  dances. 
Thus  they  danced  one  set  through.  The  men  then  re 
tired  and  the  women  chose  partners  again.  Geetlu  did 
not  choose  a  partner ;  she  had  the  medicine  cane  to  dance 
with.  Thus  they  danced  throughout  the  whole  night, 
with  the  exception  that  towards  morning  the  married 
women,  who  cared  to,  joined  separately  in  a  clog-dance, 
clown  movement,  thus  furnishing  amusement  and  mer 
riment.  As  the  sun  rose  over  the  White  Mountains, 
all  took  one  more  drink  of  Indian  whisky  and  re- 


256  DON  DIEGO 

tired,  the  men  taking  the  women,  with  whom  they  had 
danced,  home  with  them  to  be  their  wives  if  they  wished 
them  and  had  the  necessary  property  to  buy  them  of  their 
parents  or  guardians. 

A  few  days  after  the  dance,  Noskelzhohn  and  his  wife 
set  out  for  their  new  home  at  Cibicu,  some  forty  miles 
northwest  of  the  present  Fort  Apache:  he  was  a  Cibicu 
Indian  and  had  land  there.  They  left  the  forks  of  the 
river  and  went  northwestward  through  the  Kelley  Butte 
gap  and  passed  Sugar  Loaf  Butte.  At  the  foot  of  the 
latter  by  a  spring  of  clear  water  which  gushes  out  of  a 
limestone  ledge,  they  then  camped  for  the  night.  The 
next  morning  they  resumed  their  journey,  following 
roughly  the  line  of  the  present  trail.  Reaching  Carrixo 
creek  canon,  they  descended  into  it,  quenched  their  thirst 
from  some  slightly  alkaline  water  that  had  collected  in 
pools  here  and  there  on  the  dry  bed.  They  then  began 
to  climb  the  westward  canon  wall  over  the  broken  lava. 
Geetlu  gave  out  and  her  husband  took  her  pack;  they 
were  carrying  their  household  utensils  with  them.  On, 
up,  they  climbed  to  a  height  of  some  five  hundred  feet 
in  vertical  sections,  then  up  a  long  incline  still  over  broken 
lava  for  several  miles.  Reaching  the  summit  of  the  first 
bench,  they  paused  a  moment.  In  this  interval,  Nos 
kelzhohn  took  a  tiny  sack  from  some  part  of  his  clothing, 
and,  emptying  some  yellow,  cat-tail-flag  pollen  from  it 
into  his  hand,  sprinkled  a  crude  stone  altar  with  the 
sacred  dust,  after  which  he  scattered  some  of  the  dust 
toward  the  four  winds,  as  his  lips  moved  in  prayer. 
Having  sprinkled  the  dust  of  the  gods,  he  put  the  sack 
back  into  its  place  and  then  broke  a  twig  from  a  near-by 
tree.  This  he  placed  on  the  altar  and  over  it  he  placed 


DON  DIEGO  257 

a  small  shingle  rock.  Geetlu,  out  of  curiosity,  asked 
him  what  he  was  doing.  He  answered  her  that  he  was 
thanking  his  gods  that  the  miserable  hill  had  been 
climbed  (if  the  reader  ever  goes  over  it  he  will  not  won 
der  why  the  Indian  was  thankful). 

After  they  had  rested  a  few  minutes,  they  resumed 
their  journey  on  westward,  now  over  a  level  bench  cov 
ered  with  dwarf  cedar  and  pinon  and  an  occasional 
juniper.  For  some  miles  they  traveled  thus.  Then  they 
traveled  over  a  slight  ridge  into  a  little  gulch  where 
there  was  some  fresh  water.  Here  they  stopped  and  ate 
lunch.  After  the  lunch,  they  again  started  on  their  jour 
ney,  now  on  quite  an  upward  incline.  For  hours,  they 
climbed  over  lime  and  sandstone  terraces  of  a  former, 
widely  eroded  valley.  Finally  they  came  to  an  almost 
straight  up  and  down  bench  several  feet  in  height  directly 
in  front  of  them.  This  they  shelfed  in  zigzag  style  till 
they  reached  the  summit.  They  were  then  on  the  top  of 
the  Cibicu  Mountains,  among  the  fir  and  pine  trees  of  the 
Mogollon  forest.  Along  this  they  traveled  for  a  con 
siderable  distance  till  at  last  the  western  margin  was 
reached  and  beyond  them  at  their  feet,  it  seemed, 
stretched  out  the  broad  Cibicu  valley,  but  yet  miles  away. 
Here  they  camped  for  the  night.  The  next  day  they 
descended  the  mountains  to  the  valley  and  to  their 
home. 

They  were  welcomely  received  in  the  valley  and  Geetlu 
enjoyed  her  new  home  very  much.  Her  husband  also 
was  always  good  to  her,  as  were  her  neighbors.  In  ad 
dition,  she  held  the  place  of  honor  as  being  a  medicine 
woman  and  she  was  kept  continually  busy  looking  after 
the  sick. 


DON  DIEGO 

In  the  early  part  of  the  summer  at  Cibicu,  she  went 
with  some  women  over  the  mesas  to  the  westward  to 
gather  mescal.  For  many  miles  they  passed  through 
open  timber  where  the  ground  is  clothed  in  a  carpet  of 
grass.  After  they  had  traveled  some  miles,  they  came  to 
a  pueblo  ruins  inclosed  in  a  wall  and  all  overgrown  with 
giant  trees.  They  passed  this  ruined  village  and  on  over 
a  ridge  into  another  valley,  thence  northwestward  to  the 
head  of  the  valley  past  miles  of  tavertine  deposits  to  the 
Grasshopper  Springs'  region.  Here  they  quenched  their 
thirst  and  rested  for  the  night. 

The  next  day  they  resumed  their  trip,  now  westward 
and  a  little  southward.  They  had  traveled  only  a  few 
miles  on  the  Grasshopper  Springs'  bench,  when  they  came 
to  another  pueblo  ruin,  built  directly  across  a  small  val 
ley  so  that  the  village-wall  formed  a  dam  to  the  stream 
that  flowed  there.  From  the  reservoir  thus  formed, 
much  land  had  been  sometime  under  irrigation,  as  was 
shown  by  the  ditches  and  the  cleared  area.  Indications 
were  also  there  to  show  that  the  village  had  been  long 
inhabited  before  it  was  overwhelmed,  as  the  graveyard 
was  large  (covering  more  than  five  acres  of  ground). 
As  Geetlu  inspected  these  ruins,  she  thought  of  her  far 
away  pueblo  home.  After  looking  around  the  ruins  for 
a  considerable  time,  they  proceeded  onward. 

On  the  edge  of  the  grassy  region,  they  came  to  the 
broken  area,  a  rough,  rugged  country  forming  the  Oak 
creek-Canon  creek  divide.  From  the  summit  of  this 
they  descended  over  sandstone  ledges  for  many  miles  in 
a  rather  gentle  decline.  Then  they  came  to  a  yellowish, 
marble-like  limestone  filled  with  ocean  shells  of  the  far 
away  Devonian  time.  After  leaving  this  formation,  they 


DON  DIEGO  259 

passed  over  the  Old  Red  sandstone  series  and  out  far 
ther,  onto  the  vitreous  Tonto  sandstone  area,  crossing 
canons  and  ascending  places  steeper  than  an  ordinary 
house  roof,  as  they  roamed  about  looking  for  mescal 
tubers. 

As  they  were  thus  searching  this  broken  region,  Geet- 
lu's  eye  caught  sight  of  the  Canon  creek  cliff  houses, 
built  on  a  protected  shelf  in  a  secluded  place  far  up  in  a 
narrow  little  valley,  that  though  now  destitute  of  water, 
must  once  have  had  water  running  through  it  in  quan 
tities  even  sufficient  for  irrigation;  corn  cobs  and  a 
kind  of  rye  have  been  found  in  the  granaries  there. 
Geetlu  went  to  the  houses,  looked  them  through,  ex 
amined  some  of  the  broken  pieces  of  pottery,  then  with 
a  sigh  turned  and  left  the  place.  In  a  little  while  she 
joined  the  other  women  and  all  proceeded  about  their 
task,  as  some  laughed  about  her  visiting  the  houses  of 
the  long  ago. 

They  gathered  their  mescal  tubers  and  roasted  them 
that  night.  Then  the  next  day  they  started  home,  ar 
riving  there  the  second  day  following.  As  soon  as  rested 
Geetlu  went  to  irrigating  her  cornfield.  As  she  was 
spreading  the  water,  a  splash  indicated  that  a  mountain 
trout  had  mistook  the  ditch  for  the  main  channel  of  the 
stream  and  had  stranded  in  the  open  field.  She  picked 
it  up  and  put  it  in  a  secure  place  till  she  had  finished  the 
irrigating.  After  finishing  it,  she  took  the  fish  and  went 
to  her  wigwam. 

After  resting  a  few  minutes  she  then  cleaned  the  fish 
and  roasted  it  among  the  live  coals  of  the  fire.  When  it 
was  cooked,  she  sat  it  before  her  husband  for  his  even 
ing  meal;  but  he  would  not  touch  it,  saying:  "We 


260  DON  DIEGO 

Apaches  do  not  eat  fish."  One  of  the  medicine  men  of 
the  tribe  was  also  there  and  he,  too,  refused  to  eat  of 
the  fish.  Geetlu  was  curious.  Turning  to  the  medicine 
man  she  said :  "  Brother,  I  am  a  Pueblo  and  we  eat 
fish.  Do  tell  me  why  you  will  not  eat  them.  Is  there 
anything  wrong  in  eating  them  ?  " 

The  old  man  straightened  his  bent  frame  and  said : 
"  No,  we  do  not  eat  fish.  They  are  the  spirits  of  wicked 
women.  Do  you  see  the  spots  on  them?  Once,  a  long 
time  ago  all  our  people  got  an  '  awful  sick.'  They  were 
hot.  They  were  burning  up  with  fever.  The  medicine 
men  took  them  all  down  by  the  river's  brink  and  there  they 
gave  the  sick  a  sweat  bath,  the  hot  steam  bath  of  puri 
fication.  This  they  all  took.  Then  emerging  from  the 
bath-tepee,  they  plunged  themselves  into  the  invigora 
ting  waters  of  the  river,  only  to  come  out  on  the  bank 
and  die.  All  died  who  were  sick.  The  people  were  en 
raged  against  the  medicine  men.  They  thought  they  had 
killed  the  '  sick  '  intentionally.  They  rose  as  one  man 
to  annihilate  them  all,  when  the  dead  people  began  to 
turn  spotted  just  like  the  fish  in  the  river.  The  explana 
tion  was  simple.  The  bad  spirits  of  the  fish  had  entered 
the  people  who  had  bathed  and  had  killed  them  all. 
From  that  day  to  this  no  Apache  has  eaten  fish  "  [and 
but  few  of  them  have  ever  bathed]. 

The  aged  man  resumed  his  stooped  posture  again ;  but 
Geetlu  had  more  questions  to  ask  him.  Turning  so  as 
to  face  him,  she  said :  "  Brother,  I  see,  I  see  your  rea 
sons."  She  paused  a  moment,  then  continued :  "  I  wish 
to  ask  you  some  more  questions  about  things  which  I 
have  seen  in  your  country,  if  it  will  not  be  too  much  for 
you  to  answer  them  for  me." 


DON  DIEGO  261 

"  Go  on,"  commanded  the  medicine  man.  "  I  will  tell 
you  about  anything  I  know  about." 

"  Well,"  resumed  Geetlu,  more  confidently,  "  in  many 
places  in  your  country  there  are  ruined  villages.  There 
are  three  in  this  valley,  one  at  the  Grasshopper  Springs, 
a  walled  village  over  here  in  the  timber  of  the  southwest, 
and  many  more  scattered  here  and  there.  Who  are  those 
people  and  what  became  of  them?  I  would  like  to  ask." 

The  old  man  frowned  and  spat  in  the  fire  in  contempt. 
Then  he  turned  a  piercing  eye  upon  the  questioner  and 
said :  "  We  do  not  wish  to  talk  about  that  people. 
They  overran  this  country  many,  many  suns  ago  and, 
overpowering  our  people,  made  slaves  of  them  all.  For 
many,  many  years,  our  people  were  their  slaves  and  did 
all  their  work  for  them.  They  had  a  big  Chief  who 
lived  under  the  noonday  sun.  Once  upon  a  time,  this 
big  Chief  had  a  great  war  in  his  southland  home;  and 
being  hard  pressed,  he  sent  officers  throughout  his  realms 
calling  his  warriors  to  his  capital  to  help  repel  the  foe. 
After  they  had  departed,  our  people  rose  against  the 
women  and  children  and  old  men  and  massacred  them  all 
and  destroyed  their  places  of  habitation  as  you  have  seen 
them.  Since  that  time  we  have  been  the  slaves  of  no 
race  of  men.  N,o,  we  do  not  like  to  talk  about  these 
people."  Again  he  spat  in  the  fire  in  contempt,  then  be 
came  silent. 

Geetlu  wished  more  information  about  things  which 
she  had  seen,  so  continued  her  questioning :  "  Brother," 
she  began  again,  "  you  know  I  was  once  lost  in  the  cliff 
cave  toward  the  mountains  of  snow.  When  we  were 
over  toward  Oak  creek  gathering  mescal,  I  also  saw 
many  cliff  houses.  I  would  like  to  know  who  the  people 


262  DON  DIEGO 

were  who  lived  in  these  places  and  what  became  of 
them." 

"  It  is  a  long  story,"  he  began,  talking  more  freely  than 
previously.  "  It  was  a  long,  long  time  ago  when  these 
people  lived  here.  There  were  little  folk.  There  were 
two  tribes  of  them.  One  of  them  lived  in  the  canon 
of  the  White  Mountain  River,  as  one  approaches  the  sun 
at  his  rising.  They  had  a  village  in  the  valley;  also  a 
cave  village.  The  other  tribe  lived  in  the  Oak  creek- 
Canon  creek  cliff  houses  that  you  have  seen  and  still  far 
ther  westward  along  the  high  east  escarpment  of  the 
Sierra  Ancha.  For  many,  many  summers  these  people 
lived  at  peace  and  cultivated  their  little  valley  fields  and 
hunted  and  killed  the  game  in  the  forests  and  feasted 
with  each  other  on  special  occasions. 

"  Finally,  after  many  years,  a  White  Mountain  cliff 
dweller  desired  to  take  for  his  wife  a  daughter  of  the 
Oak  creek  chief;  but  her  people  would  not  permit  the 
marriage.  The  White  Mountain  man,  whose  name  was 
Elondazen,  offered  to  buy  his  prospective  wife;  but  after 
a  great  deal  of  negotiation,  the  Oak  creek  '  principals  ' 
rejected  the  proposed  purchase,  and  Elondazen  and  his 
relatives  returned  home  sad  and  dejected. 

"  Arriving  at  their  home,  a  meeting  of  the  '  principals  ' 
of  the  place  was  called ;  and,  after  considerable  consulta 
tion,  it  was  decided  to  obtain  the  maiden,  Gumwapa 
(Salt),  of  the  Oak  creek  people  by  stealth.  So  accord 
ing  to  a  prearranged  plan,  many  White  Mountain  braves 
went  and  concealed  themselves  in  the  hills  adjacent  to 
Canon  and  Oak  creeks.  It  was  in  the  mescal  gathering 
season.  The  women  of  the  Oak  creek  village  all  went 
into  the  hills  to  collect  mescal  tubers.  Gumwapa  ac- 


DON  DIEGO  263 

companied  the  other  women.  All  were  busy,  when  Gum- 
wapa  suddenly  found  herself  being  carried  away  in  the 
arms  of  her  lover  Elondazen.  She  did  not  object  much 
to  going  with  him.  And  the  women  who  were  there 
tried  not  to  help  release  her;  but  all  fled  to  the  village. 
"  With  pent-up  fury,  the  Oak  creek  people  pursued 
Elondazen  and  his  warriors  and  the  captured  girl.  They 
thought  to  rescue  the  latter,  but  were  unsuccessful.  Over 
the  hills  and  through  the  timber  and  across  canons  and 
creeks  they  chased  the  fleeing  White  Mountain  people 
to  their  village  home  on  White  Mountain  river.  There 
in  the  valley  a  great  battle  was  fought  in  which  the  Oak 
creek  people  were  routed  and  driven  from  the  valley  to 
the  region  of  Cedar  creek  and  Sugar  Loaf  Butte.  Here 
night  came  on  and  the  fighting  ceased.  Morning,  how 
ever,  brought  a  change  of  movement.  In  the  night  the 
Oak  creek  people  had  been  reenforced  by  the  Sierra 
Ancha  cliff  dwellers;  and  at  daybreak,  the  combined 
forces  fell  upon  the  confident  victors  of  the  day  before 
and  put  them  to  flight.  Throughout  that  whole  day  then 
there  was  a  running  battle  among  the  hills  and  ridges, 
dikes  and  buttes  of  the  Kelley  Butte  country.  Even  the 
coming  of  night  did  not  cause  the  slaughter  to  cease. 
But  under  cover  of  the  darkness,  the  White  Mountain 
people,  though  hard  pressed,  were  able  to  retreat  up  the 
valley  to  their  village  home.  Here  behind  its  walls  they 
made  a  determined  stand;  but  after  a  seven  days'  con 
tinual  conflict,  they  were  defeated  again  and  a  breach 
was  made  in  the  outer  wall  toward  the  rear  of  the  village. 
The  night  following,  a  pitched  battle  was  fought  in  the 
plaza  between  the  contending  braves.  While  the  unequal 
contest  was  going  on,  the  women  fled  with  their  belong- 


264  DON  DIEGO 

ings  to  the  cliff  cave;  many  had  already  gone  there  be 
fore  the  village  was  besieged.  While  the  battle  was  be 
ing  waged  at  its  fiercest,  Gumwapa  was  placed  on  the 
roof  through  a  hatchway  of  one  of  the  houses  by  the  en 
raged  women  of  the  place.  Her  hands  were  tied.  A 
lone  woman  appeared  on  the  roof  with  her.  It  was  the 
White  Mountain  girl  whom  Elondazen  had  jilted  when 
he  had  taken  the  Oak  creek  woman.  The  enraged  girl 
had  more  than  revenge  stored  up  in  her  determination. 
She  stabbed  the  helpless  girl  to  death  and  then  hurled 
her  from  the  roof  into  the  midst  of  her  brothers  and  fel 
low  countrymen,  exclaiming  as  she  did  so :  '  Take  your 
sister  Salt.  She  has  caused  us  trouble  enough  already.' 
"  The  morning  following  found  the  village  wholly  in 
possession  of  the  Oak  creek  braves;  all  of  the  White 
Mountain  people  that  had  escaped  death  or  capture  had 
fled  to  the  cave.  But  the  people  from  the  west  were  not 
yet  satisfied.  They  would  yet  have  revenge  for  the  mur 
der  of  Gumwapa.  So  they  pursued  the  fleeing  enemy 
to  their  cave  fort;  and  there  at  its  entrance  another 
pitched  battle  was  fought  for  many  days.  Though  the 
White  Mountain  folk  were  defeated  in  this  battle  also, 
the  contest  was  so  near  equal  that  the  Oak  creek  braves 
could  not  force  the  entrance  and  capture  the  cave  village. 
Having  exhausted  their  strength,  they  retreated  a  safe 
distance  from  the  cave  entrance  and  there  sat  down  to  be 
siege  the  place  till  the  inmates  would  be  forced  by  starva 
tion  to  surrender.  For  a  long  time  they  continued  the 
siege,  but  unsuccessful.  And  worse  still,  each  morning 
at  sunrise  the  head  chief  of  the  cave  people  would  come 
out  on  the  little  platform  at  the  cave  entrance  and  taunt 
the  Oak  creek  enemy,  saying :  '  Starve  yourselves. 


DON  DIEGO  265 

Kill  your  own  people  since  you  wish  to  kill  someone. 
We  are  safe  here.  You  cannot  get  into  this  cave.  Our 
gods  would  strike  you  dead  should  you  enter  it.  No, 
we  will  not  surrender.  We  have  provision  enough 
stored  within  to  last  us  many  years,  also  a  spring  of  fresh, 
clear  water  gushes  forth  in  one  of  the  rooms.  Go  starve 
yourselves.  If  you  wish  to  kill  human  beings,  kill  your 
selves  :  then  you  will  not  offend  any  gods  but  your  own.' 

"  The  Oak  creek  people,  however,  would  not  give  up 
their  quest.  They  were  bent  upon  having  revenge.  At 
last  they  called  a  meeting  of  their  chief  advisors;  and, 
after  many  hours  of  deliberation,  a  new  plan  of  proce 
dure  was  decided  upon. 

"  Under  cover  of  the  darkness,  that  night,  they 
swarmed  up  over  the  ledge  and  captured  the  cave  en 
trance,  killing  the  pickets  on  guard  in  it  or  driving  them, 
back  within  the  narrow  hall-way.  Then  the  assailants 
brought  up  great  quantities  of  resin  and  pitch  wood 
and  piled  it  high  up  about  the  hole  in  the  cliff.  Then 
they  kindled  a  huge  fire  and  never  suffered  it  to  abate 
its  fury.  For  days  and  days  they  kept  it  burning;  and 
the  fire  gleamed  brightly  by  night  and  by  day  against 
the  side  of  the  vast  rock  face.  A  continuous,  strong  south 
wind  also  aided  the  assailants:  the  cliff  extends  north 
ward  along  a  huge  fissure  in  the  earth's  crust,  and  the 
wind  blew  the  choking  smoke  to  the  innermost  recesses 
of  the  cavern.  Death  was  certain  to  the  imprisoned 
hoards.  Hurriedly  they  collected  in  their  chamber  of 
worship  and  there  perished  while  at  prayer.  At  length, 
the  revenging  army  retired,  leaving  a  blackened  hall-way 
and  a  giant  pile  of  ashes  on  the  ledge." 

Geetlu  started  to  thank  the  aged  man  for  his  kindness 


266  DON  DIEGO 

in  narrating  these  things  to  her,  when  he  arose  and  left 
the  wigwam. 

The  second  night  following  the  above  incident,  Geetlu 
had  been  out  to  see  a  patient;  and,  returning  just  at  day 
break,  found  her  husband  very  much  downcast  in  spirit. 
He  was  sitting  by  the  fire  sprinkling  cat-tail-flag  pollen  to 
the  four  winds.  He  never  noticed  her  when  she  re 
turned,  but  kept  on  sprinkling  the  pollen.  She  spoke  to 
him  and  he  stared  at  her  wildly.  "  What  is  wrong,  Nos- 
kelzhohn,"  she  quickly  asked,  as  she  went  to  him  and  put 
her  hands  on  his  head. 

Still  staring  wildly,  he  spoke  to  her :  "  Oh,  Geetlu, 
before  the  frost  comes  me  die.  Me  alone  in  tepee.  Owl 
come  and  light  on  wigwam  and  hoot  and  call  me  to  go 
with  him  to  the  dead  land.  Leaves  yet  on  the  trees,  me 
die.  Me  leave  good  Geetlu.  I  ask  my  people  to  let  you 
go  to  your  village  home.  Me  die." 

"  But  don't  talk  that  way,  Noskelzhohn.  I  want  you 
to  live  long.  We  will  go  together  to  my  home.  I  will 
explain  all  to  them  and  they  will  be  good  to  you." 

"  Me  die,  good  Geetlu.    Me  die.    I  know,"  he  broke  in. 

Geetlu  dropped  the  subject  and  went  about  her  morn 
ing  work.  When  she  had  breakfast  ready,  she  set  it 
before  him;  but  he  refused  to  eat  and  still  sat  and  stared 
and  talked  about  that  he  was  going  to  die.  Geetlu  be 
came  alarmed  and  at  once  called  a  consultation  of  the 
medical  fraternity :  her  husband  was  already  very  sick. 
That  night  began  a  series  of  medicine  performances  to 
restore  his  health  and  normal  state  of  mind. 

During  the  day  Geetlu  gave  him  root  tea  to  drink; 
but  he  grew  gradually  worse.  As  dusk  began  to  cover 


DON  DIEGO  267 

the  land,  drums  were  brought  to  the  tepee,  and  a  little 
later  the  medicine  men  arrived.  Then  the  medicine  sing 
ing  began.  The  patient  was  placed  on  a  pallet  to  the 
east  of  the  central  fire  in  the  wigwam.  The  chief  med 
icine  man  of  the  evening  squatted  at  the  head  of  this 
bed  with  his  face  looking  toward  the  east  (Geetlu  could 
not  act  as  doctor  as  one  of  her  own  family  was  the  suf 
ferer).  Immediately  around  the  medicine  man  were 
seated  other  members  of  the  "  medicine "  fraternity ; 
while  around  the  room  were  seated  as  many  Indians  as 
could  conveniently  find  squatting  space  in  the  hovel.  In 
addition,  many  more  were  seated  on  the  ground  with 
out  the  Indian  house  in  front  of  the  entrance  to  it. 

When  all  was  ready,  the  old  medicine  man  spat  into 
the  fire,  then  began  to  sing: 

"  Raws'  ah  tun'-nee  yah'  osh  kah' 
Raws'  ah  tun'-nee  yah'  osh  kah' 
Raws'  ah  tun'-nee  yah'  osh  kah' 
Raws'  ah  tun'-nee  yah'  osk  kee'  yah'. 
Yah'  dethith'-be-zhe' 
PaiY-ris*  kee-kay  ed-dee-teen' 
Tsof  un-tzhon'-nee 
Bair'  in-dah'  klee'-dal-ash' 
Yah'  ed-dee-teen'  oo'  bair  tzhon'-nee 
Nod'-o-tash'  yo'  e'  hay'  nay." 

The  drum  began  to  measure  off  the  time;  and  soon  all 
within  as  well  as  those  without  the  tepee  were  singing 
the  "  sick  "  away.  This  song  was  repeated  ten  times. 
Then  several  other  songs  were  sung,  after  which  the 
singing  ceased  for  a  few  minutes. 


268 


DON  DIEGO 


No.  i.    J  -  240. 
A 


MEDICINE  SONGS  OF  THE  APACHES 

A  A  A          A  A          A 


T 


1 


:x 


^ 


-IT- 


-* 


O      ne       o      ne        6       n6      6      ng      ha  yah    i       a 

No.  2.    ,  =  240. 


-K- 


j_Hff ^ 


s 


ha    na*  Yi  an-ne        o       6      yi     an-ne       o      6 

*  "  Ha  na"  which  ends  many  of  C-4's  songs,  means,  "  We're  not  afraid." 


A        A        A        A        A 


No.  3.    ,1=240. 


y&  an-ne  o     o     hS  ha  na 


H6  yo  ya    ha   yah    i 


No.  4.    J=  240. 


P 


he    yo      o     ha 


^^ 


ha        na 


A       A      A       A        A        A 


c*      £>     _^. 


-fS-- 


Ha  yo 

NO.S,      J  =  240. 


4--4 


CX       -4Q-     -^9-      i^j         (^         f^-        f^ 
^ 

i      ya     ya     i    ya  y6  ha  y&    T     ha   na 


I    ya  o     a 

A  A  A  A  A          A 


=f==f 


yaoayaoayaoayao       a        I       I       a 

Music  transcribed  by  J.  P.  Herring. 

As  soon  as  the  singing  ceased,  the  chief  of  ceremonies 
took  a  wooden  snake  out  of  the  ashes,  by  some  trick  he 
had  concealed  it  while  the  singing  was  going  on.  Tak- 


DON  DIEGO  269 

ing  the  crude  carving  in  his  left  hand,  he  blew  a  breath 
in  prayer  on  it,  then  sprinkled  it  with  the  sacred  pollen 
of  the  cat-tail-flag,  after  which  he  sprinkled  a  pinch  of 
the  same  dust  toward  each  of  the  semi-cardinal  points. 
He  then  placed  the  lower  surface  of  this  effigy  of  med 
icine  on  the  afflicted  parts  of  the  patient  in  each  of  the 
"  four  wind  "  directions,  praying  all  the  while  to  his  gods 
and  sprinkling  the  patient  with  the  sacred  dust.  This 
being  completed,  the  snake  was  burned  and  the  singing 
resumed. 

For  another  hour  or  more  they  sang,  with  air  foul 
and  noise  deafening.  Then  another  breathing  spell  was 
taken.  At  this  time  the  medicine  man  produced  a 
wooden  frog.  This  he  performed  with  as  he  had  with 
the  snake,  after  which  it  was  likewise  burned.  The  sing 
ing  was  again  resumed. 

For  a  long  time  the  singing  was  kept  up.  Then  the 
medicine  men  produced  five  hoops.  These  were  each  some 
two  and  one-half  feet  in  diameter;  and  all,  when  set  side 
by  side,  were  painted  so  as  crudely  to  imitate  the  colors 
of  the  rainbow,  which  the  hoops  were  supposed  to  rep 
resent  :  the  Apaches  believe  that  the  rainbow  is  a  complete 
circle  surrounding  the  whole  heavens,  extending  to  the 
"  sun's  home "  in  the  "  straight-down-below."  These 
hoops  he  blew  his  breath  on  as  he  had  on  the  snake  and 
frog.  Then  sprinkled  them  with  the  sacred  dust,  after 
which  he  placed  them  singly  on  the  afflicted  parts  of  the 
patient,  then  all  together.  After  he  had  finished  this 
process,  he  blew  a  hissing  breath  6n  them  to  drive  away 
the  collected  "  sick."  He  then  gave  a  hoop  each  to  five 
of  his  associates  and  directed  them  to  carry  them  quite  a 
distance  from  the  wigwam  and  there  bury  them  or  safely 


270  DON  DIEGO 

conceal  them,  four  of  the  carriers  to  go  one  toward  each 
of  the  semi-cardinal  directions,  the  fifth  to  proceed 
toward  the  sun  at  noon. 

After  the  hoop-carriers  had  departed,  the  medicine 
man  spat  in  the  fire  several  times,  then  resumed  the  sing 
ing  as  before.  This  singing  was  continued  till  the  com 
ing  of  the  morning  star.  Then  a  medicine  god,  some 
two  feet  in  height,  a  crude  likeness  to  a  human  being,  all 
feathered  and  painted,  was  produced.  This  the  medicine 
man  used  as  he  had  formerly  used  the  snake  and  the  frog, 
except  that  he  placed  it  four  times  over  each  of  the  vital 
points  of  the  body  as  well  as  the  part  where  the  "  sick  " 
seemed  to  be.  This  being  done,  he  gave  the  medicine 
god  to  an  associate  and  told  him  to  carry  it  to  the  top 
of  the  ridge  toward  the  east  and  there  conceal  it  under 
one  of  the  altars. 

As  soon  as  the  god-carrier  had  left,  the  singing  was 
again  resumed;  and,  in  addition,  those  without  the  tepee 
danced  a  backward  and  forward  dance,  as  they  also  sang 
till  the  surrounding  woods  gave  back  the  sound.  At  sun 
up  all  went  to  their  respective  homes.  But  the  patient 
had  grown  worse  throughout  the  night. 

Nothing  was  done  during  the  day,  but  to  give  the  sick 
one  a  sweat  bath,  to  play  the  Medicine  Game,  and  to 
make  preparations  for  the  night  performances  to  follow. 

The  Medicine  Game  was  played  for  the  benefit  of  the 
patient.  The  chief  medicine  man  played  to  drive  "  sick  " 
away.  An  Indian,  as  the  representative  of  "  sick," 
played  against  him.  This  is  the  usual  way  the  game  is 
played.  If  the  medicine  man  wins,  it  is  believed  that 
the  sick  one  will  get  well;  if  the  representative  of  evil 
gains  the  victory,  he  will  die.  The  representative  of  the 


g 

££ 


O 

o 
S 

" 

* 


DON  DIEGO  271 

good  spirits  so  plays  the  game  that  if  he  believes  the  pa 
tient  will  die  he  loses,  and  if  he  believes  he  will  get  well 
he  wins;  he  must  keep  up  his  reputation  as  a  medicine 
man. 

In  many  respects  this  game  resembles  the  "  Setdilth 
Game,"  previously  described.  The  tally  counts  are  forty 
in  number,  as  in  that  game;  but  pebbles  instead  of  cob 
bles  are  used.  Furthermore,  instead  of  being  picked  up 
on  the  spot,  as  the  cobble  stones  are,  each  family  carries 
a  "  set "  with  them  wherever  they  go.  Like  the  set- 
dllth  tallies,  when  used  in  playing  they  are  arranged  in 
a  circle;  but  in  groups  of  fives  instead  of  tens.  A  wide 
space  on  opposite  sides  of  the  circle,  designated  "  water," 
separates  the  four  west  groups  from  the  four  east 
groups.  As  in  the  setdilth  game  a  center  or  bouncing 
rock  is  used.  Also  as  in  that  game  bouncing  sticks  are 
used,  but  the  number  is  four  instead  of  three.  The 
sticks  also  are  very  different.  The  setdilth  sticks  are 
about  a  foot  in  length,  are  the  halves  of  green  willows, 
and  are  thick  and  heavy.  The  medicine  sticks  are  two 
feet  in  length,  and  dry,  seasoned  material,  are  usually 
carved  yucca  lath,  and  are  light  and  thin.  Besides  be 
ing  variously  carved,  three  of  them  have  one  face  each 
painted  red;  the  other  face  unpainted,  or  painted  white. 
The  other  stick  has  one  face  painted  black,  the  other 
green.  As  in  the  setdilth  game  these  sticks  are  struck 
edgewise  on  the  bouncing  rock,  and  are  then  let  fall  as 
chance  may  direct.  In  this  game,  as  in  the  setdilth 
game,  small  sticks  are  placed  between  the  last  rock  tally 
and  the  next  pebble  in  the  direction  the  player  is  moving 
his  tally  stick  to  mark  the  number  of  points  he  has 
gained.  Unlike  the  setdilth  game,  forty-one  points  in- 


272  DON  DIEGO 

stead  of  forty  constitute  a  game-count ;  the  players  begin 
at  the  south  wide  space  and  in  order  to  get  a  game  they 
must  cross  the  same  space  on  the  return  to  at  least  one 
count  on  the  other  side.  The  winner  of  the  game-count 
keeps  on  playing,  retaining  the  extra  counts  he  has 
gained;  his  opponent  begins  anew.  He,  however,  does 
not  lose  any  game-counts  previously  gained  in  the  game. 
The  game  is  occasionally  played  to  pass  the  time  away. 
When  played  for  that  purpose  four  persons  usually  play, 
two  playing  as  partners.  The  rules  of  the  game  are 
these : 

1.  The  opponents  in  the  game  face  each  other,  both 
start  from  the  south  wide  space,  and  move  their  counting 
sticks  around  the  stone  circle  in  opposite  directions,  each 
playing  as  his  turn  comes. 

2.  Should  the  counts  of  two  opponents  be  such  that 
their  counting  sticks  would  occupy  the  same  space,  the 
one  who  played  last  takes  up  his  opponent's  counting 
stick  and  throws  it  back  to  the  starting  point.     Its  owner 
must  begin  the  game  anew,  as  all  the  points  he  has  pre 
viously  made  are  lost. 

3.  Should  the  counts  of  any  player  be  such  as  to  place 
his  counting  stick  in  either  of  the  wide  spaces,  designated 
"  water,"  he  loses  all  the  points  he  has  made,  his  count 
ing  stick  is  thrown  back  to  the  starting  place,  and  he 
must  begin  again. 

4.  The  rules  for  counting  the  points,  decided  by  the 
face  of  the  sticks  that  are  up  after  they  have  fallen  (the 
faces  according  to  color  are  designated  white,  red,  green, 
or  black),  are  as  follows: 

A. —  Two   white   plus  one  red   plus   one   black,   two 
points. 


DON  DIEGO 


273 


Game  field  of  the  Apache  Medicine  Game,  showing  the  "pebble- 
circle"  and  the  counting  sticks  in  place.  The  two  wide  spaces 
are  designated  "water."  Should  the  tallies  be  such  as  to  place 
a  tally-stick  in  either  of  these  spaces,  the  player  loses  all  the 
points  he  has  made  in  that  game-count  and,  consequently,  must 
begin  the  count  again.  The  game  sticks,  as  they  have  fallen, 
count  the  thrower  65  points. 


274  DON  DIEGO 

B. —  Three  red  plus  one  black  and  all  the  sticks  par 
allel,  5  points. 

C. —  Three  white  plus  one  green,  10  points. 

D. —  Three  red  plus  one  green,  13  points. 

E. —  Three  white  plus  one  black,  13  points. 

F. —  Three  red  plus  one  black,  20  points. 

G. —  Three  red,  one  crossing  the  other  two,  plus  one 
black,  26  points. 

H. —  Three  white  plus  one  black  laying  across  the 
others,  39  points. 

I. —  Three  red,  one  crossing  the  other  two,  plus  one 
black  crossing  two  red  ones  (in  this  game  each  cross 
counts  13  points),  52  points. 

J. —  One  hundred  and  sixty- four  continuous  points,  or 
four  game-counts  constitute  a  game. 

In  the  game  in  question  the  medicine  man  played  to 
lose  and  lost,  because  it  was  his  opinion  that  the  sick  man 
would  die. 

Sundown  ushered  in  a  new  performance.  A  fire  was 
builded  near  the  tepee  of  the  sick,  and  he  was  carried  to 
it.  Close  by  him  then  collected  the  medicine  fraternity 
and  chanters;  while  around  all  in  a  great  circle  danced 
the  assembled  populace.  Within  the  circle  danced 
clown-acting,  painted  Indians,  each  carrying  a  carved 
staff.  These  staffs  were  all  made  from  trees  that  had 
been  struck  by  lightning;  wood  from  such  trees  is  sup 
posed  to  have  some  curative  charm.  Some  of  the  staffs 
were  mere  canes,  painted  white  and  streaked  with  imita 
tion,  zigzag-lightning  lines;  some  were  cane-like  with 
fan-shaped,  rib-like  heads :  some  were  flat  and  wide  and 
rib-like  and  peculiarly  carved  and  painted;  others  were 
crude  effigies  of  gods  and  men.  In  addition  to  these 


DON  DIEGO 


275 


staff-medicine  sticks  being  painted  in  symbolic  designs, 
the  drums  to  be  used  were  also  painted  in  the  figures  of 
the  gods. 

MEDICINE  SONGS  OF  THE  APACHES 
No.  6.    J  =  24o.  Repeat  four  times. 


d 


Hi 


yu 


to 


hi 


yu 


A          A          A          A 


\ist,  indandjrd,  ending)!  fth,  ending. 

'     A          A          A  A     A  A          A 


~-^= 


-&-  -&-  -&-      -&•      -&- 

to      yu     to      ya         i        a      na  i         a      n6      & 


No.  7.     J  —  240. 


Repeat  twice. 

AAAA  AAAA 


Ba  chan  na      5       o       in     ne     a         i        a         na 

A  AAAA  AAAA 


•  /TV            j      - 

« 

- 

j        1               1 

H  — 

—  *  1 

i 

No.  8.    J  =  240. 


A  A 


Repeat  twice. 

A 


Ba-tin-ni       55          ha     na      a         i        a       na 

A  A  AAAA 


J    J 

^    J  i 


-  r*j     I 

J.    ^    J 


Ba  -  tin  -  in       o       o        ha      na 


i        a        ne 


276 


DON  DIEGO 


No.  g.    ^=240. 


Repeat  twice.  Repeat  three  times. 

A  AAAAAA 


P-H — 4 


Hi  -  yu        da-y&       da  an  na  665    ne    hi    a 

,A  A          AAAA  AAAAAA 


hi  -    yu        da  -  ya      da    &n    ni         &      i     he    ng 


No.  io.    .-=240. 
A 


Repeat  twice. 


i= 


Jl  {  I  J ' J  I  I  i  |  f-J 


Ya  nas      se   san    d&    ya    ng     6      6     ne    he     e      nah  & 

No.  ii.    ^  =  240.  Repeat  twice. 


— •**• — —i — — i 


-e-   ~^/       -s-  '  -&- 

Ha  yan  i   yo   ha  yan  i   yo   ha  yan  i  yo 

A  A  D.  c.  A       A 


=£=*=* 

—  K~l  j  — 

h=^ 

-ft 

u 

-K-|  1 

p-j-—  - 

ha  yan  i    i    i    a   ha   & 

No.  u.    J=»4o.  Repeat  2  or  5  times. 

A  A 


ha      na 


t  j   7^ 


f= 


o       nan    na         6         &  he         e          na         I 


No.  13.  J=J4o.  Repeat  twice. 

^  A  A       A 


>.  C.  <a/«<:#. 

A 


hanayu  ha    &     ha  na  yu         u    ha  n&         i     a     ne    & 


DON  DIEGO 


No.  14.    Ji- 240. 


a  ya  a    sha  ya     ya  be-hud-de  ye   i        she  yu    e      ha     na 
j  —  240. 


No.  15.  she  a 
No.  16.  Ta  a 
No.  17.  A  klo-o 


She  a 
Ta  a 
A  klo-6 


^_-  v~- 

a     ya-a      she    a      she  she  hud-de  ye  a    she  yu      a  ha    na 

a     ya-a       ta    a       y&   ka  tod  de  kla  a    she   yu      a  ha    na 

a     ya-a       a     a       ya    6  tod  de  kla  a   she   yu     a  ha    na 

Repeat  3  times. 

A        A 


^ 


-&-  -&-   -&-  -&-   -<9- 

E  ya  i  yu  hg  yu  hg  yu  he  yd.   I   a   he  y& 


An  na   on  na 

No.  20.    „  •---  140. 
Repeat  $  times. 


-6*-  -&--&-  -&-  -<2-  -&-  -&-  -fii-  -<£- 

a  na    yu  a      ha  yu  a     a  na  yu  a   ha  yti  a  he    e    na 


278                       DON 

NO.  21.      J=240. 

DIEGO 

Repeat  3  limes. 

A                                              A 

1    m      *^                       1        !       & 

-_ 

l^ff      "^        —1 

• 

1       '     \        '           \ 

ll/"l\     v|                        tf              «                                                ] 

)    •  ' 

\ 

I\J.L/    ~r                    ^       \ 

<A          \           II 

o    ka         ne      ya       a        6        ne 

No.  22.    0  —  240.              Repeat  3  times. 

*        A                        A                                        A                          A 

1  y  A         \       \                                                  1 

ya        he      ha      na 

Repeal  3  times. 

A 

yr  2  K  I     IK       r    1 

r^afe 

-1  

-_j  TT-—  j  r 

€r     _/           ^-~&-          -<*•             vj*- 

Ha  ya       na  ni   e    6     6             ha    yo 

No.  23.    .'  =  240. 

ha  ya    I    a        i    ya 

A           A           A           A 

I  _r  o           r 

1  ^i    ff*  _  J 

1           "1 

11 

)f(V\  A        \        \  \    \        \      -]       ~j 

—  —  1  _]  4. 

—  1  

^                ^1—  H 

yon  na  yon  na  yon  na  yo  na  yon  na  yo  ni 

No.  24.    .1—240. 

he       e       na       i 

1     i*      ' 

J\       *••  .           ]                      fc^ 

I 

i    n 

j 

J 

IVjy  "~  •     g        j    j      I           J        j 

j 

•       - 

ha    ya      I          he    y5 

6         ha    ya       i         he    yo      6 

Repeat  j  times. 
A               A 

I/                             _l 

[ 

^flv  —  i  1  J  —  4  —  H  — 

_  1  :.  

—  r~~ 

-H  -!—*-• 

VNL/                                                           W 

i  j 

«>-«--•-       *—x 

-<9-            "N-f    -^~ 

ha      ya       I.,      he     y5 


ha          a  na       a 

Music  transcribed  by  J.  P.  Herring. 


The  musicians  chanted  the  hours  away.  The  medicine 
man  spat  in  the  fire.  The  circular  dancers  crow-hopped 
around  the  circle  to  the  left.  And  the  clown-actors 
danced  a  foot-scraping,  backward  and  forward  move 
ment  around  the  central  fire,  the  musicians,  and  the  sick 
one,  shifting  continually  to  the  right  as  they  thus  danced. 
This  was  varied  throughout  the  entire  night  only  by  each 
clown-actor  pausing  a  moment,  when  he  had  advanced 
in  his  turn  to  the  presence  of  the  patient.  Over  him  he 
then  bent  and  prayed  and  sprinkled  the  sacred  pollen, 


THE  GUNELPREYA  MEDICINE  DISK  OF  THE  APACHES. 


DON  DIEGO  279 

while  he  placed  his  wand  on  the  afflicted  parts  in  each 
of  the  semi-cardinal  directions.  Having  collected  the 
"  sick  "  on  the  medicine  staff,  he  raised  it  to  a  level  with 
his  face;  and,  holding  it  so  as  to  point  to  the  north 
eastern  heavens,  he  blew  a  hissing  breath  over  it  to  send 
the  "  sick  "  to  its  home  in  the  far  northeastern  moun 
tains.  Then  with  a  shriek  he  resumed  his  dancing,  while 
a  fellow  clown-actor  took  his  place  at  collecting  the 
"  sick."  Morning  brought  this  peculiar  dance  to  its  con 
clusion;  but  left  the  patient  in  a  rapidly  declining  con 
dition. 

Noskelzhohn  was  suffering  from  a  disease  of  the 
brain,  as  a  result  of  the  fall  he  had  received  at  the  cliff 
cave.  His  end  was  evidently  near.  Realizing  that  the 
death  stage  was  approaching,  the  medicine  men  decided 
to  use  the  Gunelpieya  Disk  performances  and  the  Med 
icine  Ghost  dance  to  eradicate  the  disease.  This  remedy 
is  the  last  medical  resort  known  to  the  Apache  Indians. 
They  believe  that  it  will  either  cure  the  patient;  or,  if 
he  dies,  will  prepare  him  for  the  happy  feasting  land: 
the  gods  can  either  make  the  sick  well  or  take  them  to 
themselves.  It,  with  the  other  performances  previously 
described,  belong  to  the  faith  cure  side  of  the  Apache 
medical  practice,  in  all  of  which  hypnotism  plays  an  im 
portant  part.  The  Gunelpieya  Disk  performances  are 
daytime  ceremonies;  the  Medicine  Ghost  dance  is  always 
performed  at  night.  The  former  always  precedes  the 
latter. 

The  patient's  precarious  condition  necessitated  imme 
diate  action. 

In  a  sheltered  sunny  spot,  they  leveled  off  a  space  some 
thirty  feet  in  diameter.  This  they  inclosed  in  a  "  wick- 


280  DON  DIEGO 

eyup "  fence.  Within  the  inclosure  they  drew  a  med 
icine  disk  some  sixteen  feet  in  diameter.  This  disk 
they  decorated  in  concentric  rings  with  several  sets  of 
symbols  of  their  gods :  the  sun  and  lightnings  and  med 
icine  blocks ;  rainbows,  land,  deer,  man,  and  bird ;  rabbits 
and  elk;  water  and  frogs;  and  gods,  or  Gunelpieya,  the 
latter  represented  by  figures  of  men.  These  they  painted 
in  various  colors,  the  coloring  material  being  prepared 
as  follows :  The  green  was  ground  up  leaves ;  the  red, 
ground  up  sandstone;  the  black,  powdered  charcoal;  the 
yellowish-white,  ground  up  limestone;  the  blackish-blue, 
a  mixture  of  powdered  limestone  and  charcoal.  The 
dividing  lines  between  the  circular  spaces  were  rainbows. 

The  disk  being  completed,  the  Gunelpieya  ceremonies 
began.  An  aged  woman  came  into  the  inclosure,  walked 
to  the  center  of  the  disk,  and  sprinkled  it  with  cat-tail-flag 
pollen.  Then  she  walked  around  each  concentric  circle 
and  sprinkled  it  in  like  manner,  as  she  continually  prayed 
to  her  gods.  Having  completed  her  sprinkling  and  having 
scattered  "  hottenden  "  [pollen]  toward  the  four  winds, 
she  took  a  gourd  cup  partly  filled  with  water  and,  begin 
ning  with  the  outer  rainbow  circle,  the  outer  figure  drawn, 
she  walked  around  each  concentric  circle  and  concentric 
space  from  the  rim  of  the  disk  to  its  center,  stooping  be 
fore  each  sacred  object  to  gather  a  pinch  of  dust  from  it. 
This  dust  she  put  in  the  cup  she  carried  in  her  hand. 
Having  completed  her  dust  gathering,  she  prayed  and 
sprinkled  pollen  to  her  gods  a  moment ;  then  set  the  cup 
down  on  the  sun  figure  in  the  center  of  the  disk  and  took 
her  departure. 

As  soon  as  the  aged  woman  had  gone,  they  carried 
Noskelzhohn  into,  the  inclosure;  then  around  each  con- 


DON  DIEGO  281 

centirc  circle  from  the  outer  rim  of  the  disk  to  its  center, 
placing  him,  finally,  on  the  sun  drawing  with  face  turned 
toward  the  evening  sun.  At  this  juncture  the  musicians, 
who  had  seated  themselves  in  the  inclosure  without  the 
disk,  began  to  chant :  "  Kaws'  ah  tun'-nee  yah'  osh' 
kahV  etc. 

Just  as  the  monotonous  music  had  attracted  the  atten 
tion  of  all,  a  ghost  dancer,  called  "  Cheden  "  by  the  In 
dians,  came  from  a  timbered  district  along  the  creek.  He 
was  nude  with  the  exception  of  dancing  skirt,  moccasins 
and  hat;  the  latter  was  a  square-shouldered  ghost  hat. 
This  hat  had  for  a  support-piece  a  bow-shaped  withe 
which  passed,  in  yoke- fashion,  from  the  crown  of  the  head 
to  beneath  the  chin,  where  the  ends  were  tied  together 
with  sinew  to  keep  the  hat  in  place.  The  withe  had  a  soft 
buckskin  mask  stretched  over  it  loosely.  To  this  yoke 
at  the  top  was  fastened  a  transverse-bar  of  yucca  wood 
from  which  several  upright,  lath-like  pieces  projected  on 
which  there  were  peculiarly  carved  cross  pieces  and 
painted  zigzag  red  lines,  representing  lightning.  To 
make  the  ghost  figure  more  grotesque,  the  dancer's  body 
was  painted  in  various  colors.  A  drawing  of  the  sun 
with  notched  rays  in  red  and  yellow  decorated  his  breast, 
a  ghost  god  his  back,  and  the  red  bolt  lightning  his  arms, 
the  streaks  running  up  the  arms.  He  held  an  Indian 
knife  in  one  hand  and  a  lightning-painted,  yucca  wand 
in  the  other.  He  approached  the  Gunelpieya  enclosure, 
entered  it,  and  danced  around  for  a  considerable  time 
without  the  disk.  He  then  entered  the  first  rainbow  ring 
and  walked  around  it  from  the  east,  turning  continually 
to  the  right  and  edging  in  toward  the  center  of  the  disk 
as  he  thus  walked  from  ring  to  ring  and  from  space  to 


282  DON  DIEGO 

space  till  he  reached  the  patient,  approaching  him  from 
the  rear.  He  then  laid  down  his  knife  and  wand  and 
dipped  his  hands  into  the  muddy  water  in  the  cup.  He 
then  rubbed  the  sick  one's  head  with  the  muddied  hands. 
When  he  had  done  this  he  lifted  his  hands  skyward  and 
sent  the  evil  spirit  "  sick  "  away  by  blowing  a  hissing 
breath  through  them.  In  like  manner  he  placed  his 
hands  on  the  man's  back,  on  his  breast,  and  on  his  arms. 
Having  completed  his  task  and  sent  "  sick "  away,  he 
galloped  off  into  the  distant  wood. 

When  the  ghost  dancer  had  gone,  the  chief  medicine 
man  took  the  cup  and  rubbed  the  man  in  the  same  man 
ner  as  the  "  Cheden  "  had  done  before  him,  except  that 
he  daubed  him  almost  all  over  with  the  mud,  praying 
continually  as  he  did  so.  This  being  done,  he  held  the 
muddied  cup  against  the  patient's  breast  over  the  heart 
for  a  considerable  time,  as  another  member  of  the  med 
icine  fraternity  sprinkled  both  the  doctor  and  the  sick 
one  with  the  sacred  pollen  and  prayed  to  the  gods  of  med 
icine.  They  then  carried  the  sick  man  from  the  enclo 
sure.  Then  each  one  who  cared  took  some  of  the  dust 
of  the  gods,  that  is,  gathered  a  pinch  of  dust  from  each 
of  the  symbolic  figures.  This  being  done,  the  disk  was 
obliterated.  It  must  be  made,  used,  and  destroyed  in  a 
day.  In  this  performance,  the  muddied  water  of  the 
dust  of  the  gods  was  rubbed  on  the  patient  as  prayer- 
medicine.  All  the  gods  of  the  universe  were  represented 
in  the  disk,  and  on  the  mercy  of  these  they  threw  the 
sick  one.  The  Gunelpieya  ceremonies  were  thus  brought 
to  a  close.  The  next  scenes  were  those  of  the  ghost 
dance. 

At  about  ten  o'clock  that  night  a  huge  bonfire  was 


DIEGO 


283 


kindled  in  a  level  open  area,  around  which  practically  all 
the  Indians  gathered.  Two  drummers  seated  themselves 
on  the  ground  a  little  to  the  west  of  the  big  fire  and  be 
gan  to  beat  the  Indian  "  tomtoms."  As  soon  as  the  dull 
drum  beats  were  heard  all  who  desired  to  sing  joined  the 
drummers  and  began  to  chant: 

"  To'-kwah  tzhoo'-nah  nahd' -o-tash' 

To'-kwah  tzhoo'-nah  nahd' -o-tash' 

To'-kwah  tzhoo'-nah  nahd'-o-tash' 

To'-kwah  tzhoo'-nah  nahd' -o-toosh' -she  ah'  i'  a'  nah' 
ah' 

To'-kwah  tzhoo'  nah  nahd'-o-toosh'-she  ah'  i'  a' 
nah'  i'." 

APACHE  MEDICINE  SONG 


To-kwah  zhu-ne  nad-do  ta-a-ish  To-kwah  zhu-ne  nad-do  ta-a-ish. 

A  A 


-C 


K 


3T- 


To  kwah  zhu-ne  nad-do  toosh  she  a  i       a      na     a  I 

Music  transcribed  by  J.  P.  Herring. 

After  the  singing  had  been  going  on  for  a  consider 
able  time,  the  sick  man,  whom  they  had  been  rubbing 
with  scorching  pinon  and  juniper  twigs  for  hours  to 
keep  life  in  the  body,  was  carried  and  placed  on  a  deer 
skin  to  the  east  of  the  fire.  On  this  he  reclined,  waiting 
for  those  who  were  to  perform  over  him.  At  last  they 
came,  the  ghost  dancers.  There  were  five  of  them,  four 
medicine  dancers  and  a  clown.  The  former  were  "  Ched- 


284  DON  DIEGO 

ens "  and  were  attired  like  the  "  Cheden "  above  de 
scribed  with  the  exception  that  the  hats  of  two  of  them 
had  the  lath  crest-pieces  arranged  in  fan  shape  so  as  to 
resemble  the  spread  tail  of  a  turkey,  which  it  was  in 
tended  to  represent.  The  clown  was  attired,  painted 
and  daubed  similarly  to  the  ghost  dancers,  the  crest  of 
his  hat,  however,  was  neither  square  shouldered  nor 
fan-shaped;  but  instead  the  lath  extended  out  as  horns 
from  each  side,  a  cross  cresting  the  hat.  Besides  the 
difference  in  the  hat,  he  also  had  a  belt  of  pine  twigs 
around  his  waist  and  a  very  large  bunch  of  fir  twigs 
at  his  back.  The  ghost  dancers  carried  lightning- 
painted,  lath  wands  in  each  hand;  the  clown  carried  a 
"  thunder  stick  "  in  one  hand  and  a  three-pronged  stick 
in  the  other.  The  "  thunder  stick  "  was  a  piece  of  lath 
suspended  on  a  string.  The  string  being  twisted,  the 
whirling  of  the  stick  above  the  head  gave  a  sound  "  all 
the  same  thunder,"  to  use  the  Indian  expression.  The 
three-pronged  stick  resembled  the  trident  of  the  fabled 
Neptune.  The  clown  thus  attired  and  equipped  looked 
much  like  the  pictures  of  Satan. 

These  medicine  actors  approached  the  congregated 
people  from  the  southwest,  encircled  them  in  a  great 
circle,  made  circle  after  circle,  each  time  edging  in  toward 
the  central  fire.  As  they  thus  approached  they  kept  put 
ting  their  heads  near  to  the  ground  as  if  smelling  for 
something,  then  gobbling  and  strutting  like  a  turkey  and 
waving  their  hands  and  wands  like  a  bird  flaps  its  wings 
when  in  the  act  of  rising  to  fly. 

Just  as  the  medicine  actors  were  in  the  act  of  ap 
proaching  the  sick  man,  he  raised  himself  to  a  sitting 
position  and  beckoned  his  only  brother  present  to  come 


DON  DIEGO  285 

to  his  side.  He  had  been  raving  mad  all  day,  but  now 
he  was  in  his  right  mind.  His  brother  came  to  him  and 
leaned  over  him  to  hear  what  he  had  to  say.  He  said, 
as  his  hands  shook  and  his  voice  trembled:  "Brother, 
when  I  am  dead,  take  Geetlu  to  her  own  people.  It  is 
my  dying  wish."  Another  convulsion  seized  him  and  he 
died. 

The  "  Chedens "  snatched  their  masks  from  their 
heads  and  hurled  them  into  the  great  fire.  The  medicine 
men  destroyed  their  drums.  The  hills  resounded  with 
the  awful  shrieks  of  the  relatives  and  friends  mourn 
ing  his  unprepared  death.  With  the  coming  of  the  sun, 
they  wrapped  him  in  his  best  blanket  and  buried  him  un 
der  a  juniper  tree  on  the  east  margin  of  the  valley. 
Then  for  thirty  days  at  morning,  noon,  and  night  they 
bewailed  his  death. 

The  period  of  mourning  being  completed,  Geetlu  and 
her  deceased  husband's  relatives  began  to  prepare  for  the 
long  journey  to  the  country  of  the  Pueblos.  The  rela 
tives  were  not  afraid  to  go  with  Geetlu.  They  would 
keep  aloof  from  all  the  villages  till  Jemez  was  reached. 
There  they  would  be  safe,  as  she  would  explain  all  to  her 
people.  They  journeyed  northeastward  by  the  shortest 
cut  to  Carrixo  creek  from  Cibicu,  then  on  northeast. 
Reaching  a  point  some  five  miles  west  of  the  present 
Cooley's  ranch  and  twenty-five  miles  a  little  to  the  west 
of  north  from  the  present  Indian  agency  at  Whiteriver, 
Geetlu  climbed  to  the  top  of  a  volcanic  neck  to  take  a 
last  look  at  the  country. 

As  she  reached  its  summit  and  looked  about  her,  in 
the  immediate  foreground  were  grassy,  forest  covered 
mesas,  crossed  and  barred  with  a  maze  of  deep,  almost 


286  DON  DIEGO 

impassable  canons,  cut  from  one  thousand  to  twenty-five 
hundred  feet  in  the  palaeozoic  and  Archaean  rocks. 
There  were  terraces,  precipitous  cliffs,  lava  capped 
mesas,  hog-backs,  palisade  buttes,  and  "  mauvaises 
terres  " ;  while  volcanic  necks  in  the  form  of  buttes  dotted 
the  region.  To  take  a  more  extended  view :  to  the  south 
she  could  see  the  Gila  range  and  to  the  west  the  moun 
tains  beyond  the  Verda  river.  To  the  north  she  could 
look  across  the  valley  of  the  Little  Colorado  to  the  moun 
tains  beyond  the  Indian  village  of  Moqui,  a  distance  of 
more  than  one  hundred  miles.  To  the  eastward  loomed 
up  the  continental  divide  many  miles  beyond  the  snow 
caps  of  Mounts  Ord  and  Thomas  of  the  White  Moun 
tains.  While  to  the  southwestward  she  could  look  be 
yond  the  Plateau  region,  even  beyond  the  Apache  and 
Final  Mountains  to  the  region  of  the  "  lost  mountains  " 
of  the  Gila  desert.  On  each  side  everything  was  bathed 
in  the  most  delicate  tints  and  everything  lay  deathlike  in 
the  peculiar,  intangible  afternoon  haze  of  the  region 
which  seemed  to  magnify  distant  details  rather  than  sub 
due  them.  The  wonderful  monotony  seemed  uninclos- 
able  in  a  horizon  and  she  imagined  the  scene  to  continue 
always  the  same  and  without  end.  But  her  mind  was 
on  the  country  beyond  the  White  Mountains. 

Descending  to  the  mesa,  they  resumed  their  journey. 
They  crossed  the  timbered  region  and  the  Petrified  For 
est  section  and  proceeded  onward.  In  due  course  of 
time  Mount  Cabezon  loomed  up  in  sight  and  a  day  later 
they  camped  in  a  little  amphitheater-area  surrounded  on 
all  sides  with  red  walls  of  granite  and  Jura-trias  sand 
stone,  except  at  the  south  where  it  opens  into  Salt  river 
valley.  Here  they  rested  and  bathed  themselves  in  the 


DON  DIEGO  287 

warm  medicinal  spring  water  that  gushed  forth  from 
the  rock  walls.  They  were  at  the  foot  of  the  Nacimiento 
Range  of  the  Jemez  Mountains. 

The  next  morning  they  climbed  over  the  red  walls 
northwestward,  soon  leaving  out  of  sight  the  amphithea 
ter  and  its  forty  medicinal  springs,  its  carbon  dioxide 
gases,  and  its  tavertine  deposits.  In  two  hours  they  were 
in  Jack  Rabbit  valley  and  in  another  hour  they  were  in 
sight  of  Jemez.  Geetlu  sprinkled  sacred  pollen  to  her 
gods  and  prayed,  as  she  wept  for  joy.  On  they  jour 
neyed.  It  was  later  than  the  middle  of  the  afternoon 
when  they  arrived  in  the  valley  proper.  Geetlu  had  no 
ticed  that  the  people  of  the  village  were  having  a  gala 
day  when  she  was  yet  miles  away,  as  the  house  roofs 
were  crowded  with  women  and  children.  Reaching  the 
river,  she  could  hear  the  measured  drum  beat  of  the  war 
dance.  She  then  remembered  the  deep  rumbling  de 
tonations  toward  Zia  the  day  before  which  she  then  took 
for  distant  thunder,  but  which  she  now  realized  was  can 
nonading.  The  Spaniards  (only  white  people  had  can 
non)  had  been  routed  and  her  people  were  celebrating  the 
event. 

The  approach  of  the  little  band  had  been  noticed  from 
the  watch  tower.  The  watchman  had  reported  that  it 
was  a  band  of  Apaches;  but  that  the  leader  was  a  female 
and,  though  dressed  like  an  Apache  squaw,  she  walked 
like  a  Pueblo  woman. 

Don  Diego  and  a  few  braves  went  out  to  meet  them, 
though  there  appeared  to  be  no  danger  in  their  coming, 
as  they  fearlessly  walked  straight  toward  the  village  in 
the  bright  light  of  the  afternoon  sun.  He  met  them 
just  as  Geetlu  had  waded  the  river  to  the  village  bank. 


288  DON  DIEGO 

He  recognized  her  at  once  and  exclaimed :  "  My  wife, 
my  wife  Geetlu,"  and  greeted  her  according  to  the  In 
dian  custom,  though  contrary  to  usage  at  that  moment, 
as  he  was  in  war  paint. 

That  night  the  fires  burned  brighter  in  Jemez  than 
they  had  burned  for  many  a  day ;  and  two  people  were 
happier.  Though  Zia  had  been  captured,  the  Spaniards 
had  been  driven  from  the  region;  Ojeda  was  a  prisoner 
in  the  Spanish  camp;  and  Don  Diego  had  his  wife  again 
and  her  Apache  friends  were  comfortably  quartered  in 
the  village. 

But  the  worst  was  yet  to  come. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  destruction  of  Zia  and  the  massacre  of  its  peo 
ple  by  the  Spaniards  disheartened  the  Queres.  At 
the  same  time  Ojeda  decided  he  would  rather  be  in  the 
employ  of  the  Spaniards  as  their  ally  than  a  slave  in 
the  mines.  Furthermore,  his  enemy,  Don  Diego,  was  the 
power  in  the  Jemez  valley  and  by  joining  the  white  peo 
ple,  he  would  have  revenge  on  this  Jemez  chief.  So  he 
told  the  guards  that  he  wished  to  speak  with  the  Gov 
ernor  of  El  Paso,  under  whose  jurisdiction  he  was  held 
waiting  his  turn  to  be  sent  to  the  mines. 

When  advised  concerning  the  Santa  Anna  chief's 
wishes,  the  governor  replied :  "  Certainly,  bring  Bar- 
tolome  Ojeda  before  me.  I  wish,  too,  to  converse  with 
him." 

Soon  they  were  in  conference,  the  governor  to  gain 
back  the  lost  province,  Ojeda  to  have  imaginary  revenge. 
After  some  hours  of  deliberation,  Ojeda  pledged  himself 
that  he  would  cause  the  Pueblos,  San  Juan,  Picuries,  San 
Felipe,  Cochiti,  Santo  Domingo,  Santa  Anna,  and  what 
was  left  of  Zia,  to  return  to  the  banner  of  Spain,  stat 
ing  that  the  Indians  were  willing  to  make  terms. 

According  to  the  compact,  Ojeda  was  freed  and  in  a 
few  weeks  was  among  the  Pueblo  villages;  and  by  his 
persuasive  speeches  soon  had  gained  all  he  had  set  out 
to  do.  He  was  a  big  chief  again ;  and  the  Spaniards  had 
Indian  allies  to  fight  their  battles. 


290  DON  DIEGO 

The  plan  of  procedure  was  communicated  to  the  King 
of  Spain  and  at  once  approved.  The  king  even  suggested 
in  1691  that  Zia  might  be  a  better  capital  site  than  Santa 
Fe.  Furthermore,  in  that  same  year,  that  he  might  have 
a  strong  man  to  undertake  the  reconquering  of  the  Pueblo 
country,  he  made  Diego  de  Vargas  Zapata  Lujan  Ponce 
de  Leon  governor  of  El  Paso  and  the  northern  province. 

As  soon  as  appointed,  Vargas  took  charge  of  the  af 
fairs  at  El  Paso  and  after  spending  considerable  time  in 
preparation,  set  forth  to  invade  the  northern  country. 
Arriving  at  Santa  Fe,  he  surrounded  the  city  and  took  it 
without  a  battle  September  i3th,  1692;  the  Tanos  were 
at  first  defiant,  but  finally  were  persuaded  to  surrender. 

The  Zias  and  some  of  the  Santa  Annas  had  together 
built  a  new  village  on  the  Red  mesa  west  of  the  present 
Jemez  village ;  and  the  Jemez,  Santo  Domingo  and  a  few 
Apaches  (Geetlu's  friends)  were  fortified  on  the  other 
mesa  at  the  forks  of  the  river,  their  village  being  called 
Astialakwa.  The  Zias,  influenced  by  Ojeda,  readily 
submitted ;  but  the  Jemez  were  hostile.  Learning,  how 
ever,  that  the  Spaniards  were  without  their  families  and 
were  transients,  they  finally  submitted  October  26,  1692. 

From  Jemez,  Vargas  journeyed  from  village  to  vil 
lage,  receiving  the  submission  of  the  people  and  baptizing 
them  back  into  the  Christian  faith,  also  obtaining  the 
release  of  the  white  captives  throughout  the  region. 
Having  passed  through  the  whole  country  treated  as  a 
guest,  he  returned  to  El  Paso  December  2oth  of  the  same 
year.  To  him  the  entire  entrada  had  been  more  like  a 
dream  or  an  extended  summer  vacation.  He  did  not  un 
derstand  the  hypocrisy  of  the  Indian. 

Elated  over  the  success  of  the  first  entrada,  Governor 


DON  DIEGO  291 

Vargas  set  out  northward  again  from  El  Paso  October 
I3th,  1693,  with  seventy  families  (800  persons),  one 
hundred  soldiers,  and  seventeen  friars  under  Padre 
Salvador  de  San  Antonio.  On  December  i6th,  under 
Oiiate's  original  banner,  he  made  a  triumphal  entry  into 
Santa  Fe.  But  the  Indians  were  sullen.  The  San 
Felipe,  Santa  Anna,  the  Zia  and  the  Pecos  were  reported 
friendly;  but  the  Tanos,  who  held  Santa  Fe,  were  very 
sullen. 

Soon  after  Governor  Vargas  took  possession  of  the 
city,  a  levy  of  corn  was  made  on  the  Tanos ;  but  they  did 
not  furnish  it.  They  also  refused  to  bring  timbers  to 
rebuild  San  Miguel's  chapel,  offering  an  estufa  for  re 
ligious  services  instead.  At  about  this  time,  the  Picuries 
and  other  Pueblos  schemed  to  scatter  the  Spanish  force, 
pretending  that  they  wanted  missionaries;  but  the  ruse 
failed.  About  December  2oth,  as  a  result  of  a  petition 
of  the  white  people,  who  were  living  in  tents  without  the 
walled  city  —  twenty-two  children  having  died  on  ac 
count  of  exposure,  Governor  Vargas  ordered  the  Tanos 
to  vacate  the  Casas  Reales  and  dwellings  of  the  villa  to 
the  rightful  owners  (Santa  Fe  had  been  built  by  the 
Spaniards,  their  slaves,  of  course,  doing  the  work). 
He  also  further  ordered  that  the  Tanos  return  to  their 
old  pueblo  of  Galisteo.  This  brought  matters  to  a  crisis. 
December  28th,  the  Tanos  closed  the  plaza  and  prepared 
for  defense.  They  were  given  a  day  to  surrender,  at 
the  expiration  of  which  they  shouted  insults  to  the  Span 
iards,  saying  that  El  Demonio  (the  Devil)  could  do 
more  for  them  than  God  or  Maria,  that  the  Christians 
would  be  defeated,  reduced  to  servitude,  and  finally 
killed. 


292  DON  DIEGO 

Prayer  and  sacrament  having  been  given,  Governor 
Vargas  immediately  rushed  his  men  in  two  divisions  upon 
the  capital.  The  conflict  lasted  all  day.  The  plaza  gate 
was  burned,  the  new  estufa  burned.  At  this  juncture 
the  Tehua  reinforcements  appeared ;  but  the  cavalry  kept 
them  at  bay.  The  next  morning  the  besieged  surren 
dered,  their  Indian  governor  had  hanged  himself.  Sev 
enty  warriors  were  captured.  These  with  their  war  cap 
tain  Antonio  Bolsas  were  exhorted,  baptized,  and  then 
shot.  This  was  on  December  3Oth,  1693.  In  this  con 
flict,  in  addition  to  capturing  the  city,  the  Spaniards 
gained  much  corn,  which  at  this  time  was  very  much 
needed. 

As  soon  as  comfortably  housed  in  Santa  Fe,  Governor 
Vargas  turned  his  attention  to  the  hostile  Tehuas.  Their 
stronghold  was  San  Ildefonso.  Here  had  gathered  the 
Tesuque  and  Nambe  together  with  the  Pujuawue,  Cuy- 
amanque,  Santa  Clara,  and  Jacona  (all  Tehuas),  and 
(the  Tanos)  San  Cristobal,  and  San  Lazaro.  Upon  the 
approach  of  the  Spaniards,  these  Indians  pretended  that 
they  wished  to  make  peace;  but  it  was  a  delay  to  gain 
time  for  a  union  with  the  Jemez,  Picuries,  Taos.  Some 
Indians  favored  surrender;  but  these  were  few  in  num 
ber,  because  the  Indians  knew  of  the  shooting  of  the 
seventy  braves  at  Santa  Fe  after  they  had  surrendered. 
Aid  was  also  sought  by  the  Indians  from  Acoma,  Zufii, 
and  Moqui,  also  from  the  Apaches.  Consequently  no 
terms  could  be  made  with  them.  Meanwhile  the  Span 
ish  live  stock  suffered.  The  Spaniards  also  raided  and 
captured  corn  and  other  food-stuffs,  whereupon  the  In 
dians  destroyed  all  they  could  not  take  with  them. 

Tiring  of  fruitless  negotiation,  an  assault  was  made  on 


DON  DIEGO  293 

the  place  March  4th,  1694.  Two  cannons  were  burst  and 
the  two  columns  of  attackers,  fifty  men  each,  were  re 
pulsed  in  a  fight  of  five  hours.  Fifteen  Indians  were 
killed  and  twenty  Spaniards  wounded  on  the  side  of  the 
Spaniards.  Governor  Vargas  repeated  the  assault  March 
nth  and  was  defeated  again.  The  next  night  the  In 
dians  came  down  and  attacked  the  Spanish  camp,  but 
were  repulsed.  On  the  I9th,  the  siege  was  abandoned 
and  the  governor  returned  to  Santa  Fe,  having  recovered 
a  hundred  horses  and  mules,  killed  thirty  Indians  and 
stolen  much  corn.  But  the  war  was  to  go  on. 

As  an  ally  of  Ojeda,  Governor  Vargas  aided  the  Santa 
Annas  in  defeating  the  Cochitis  at  Cieneguilla,  their  new 
pueblo,  April  i2th.  The  battle  lasted  till  the  I7th,  when 
the  allies  defeated  the  Cochitis,  capturing  and  shooting 
seventeen  warriors,  killed  seven  warriors  in  the  battle 
and  captured  three  hundred  and  forty-two  women  and 
children,  seventy  horses,  and  nine  hundred  sheep.  But 
most  of  the  captives  were  freed  by  a  raid  of  the  Indians 
the  next  day.  Later  the  Cochitis  were  ordered  by  their 
conquerers  to  return  to  their  old  home,  to  burn  their 
newly  made  village.  This  they  did. 

Soon  after  the  defeat  of  the  Cochitis,  another  assault 
was  made  on  San  Ildefonso ;  but  with  no  success,  except 
recapturing  forty-eight  horses  that  the  Indians  had 
taken  the  day  before  in  a  raid  on  the  horse  camp  of  the 
Spaniards.  On  the  same  date,  the  Queres  sent  in  five 
Jemez  prisoners,  two  of  whom  were  shot. 

June  3Oth,  Governor  Vargas  marched  to  Cuyamanque, 
north  of  Santa  Fe,  killing  eleven  Tehuas.  From  there 
he  marched  on  to  Picuri  and  then  to  Taos,  both  of  which 
he  found  abandoned.  At  Taos  crosses  had  been  left  to 


294  DON  DIEGO 

protect  the  property :  the  Indians  had  supposed  that 
the  white  people  would  not  destroy  anything  protected 
by  the  cross.  The  Indians  were  found  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  latter  place ;  but  the  Pecos  governor,  Juan  Ye,  the 
interpreter,  could  not  induce  them  to  surrender. 

It  became  evident  to  Governor  Vargas  that  a  change 
of  procedure  must  be  made.  Only  Cochiti  had  been 
conquered  outside  of  the  confines  of  Santa  Fe.  Further 
more,  everywhere,  where  he  encountered  the  hostile 
forces,  they  were  either  aided  by  the  Jemez  or  would 
hold  out  against  the  Spanish  forces  till  the  Jemez  and 
their  allies  would  appear  and  the  campaign  would  have 
to  be  abandoned.  A  conference  with  Ojeda  was  had. 
At  it  an  entire  new  plan  of  operation  was  decided  upon. 
The  Spaniards  and  the  allied  Indians  under  Ojeda  were 
to  go  to  their  respective  homes.  Then  on  a  given  night 
they  were  all  to  march  simultaneously  up  the  Jemez 
valley  from  Old  Santa  Anna  and  there  overwhelm  the 
Jemez  and  the  disaffected  Santa  Annas  and  Zias  on 
Mesa  Colorado  (the  Red  Mesa)  before  aid  could  reach 
them  from  the  neighboring  villages.  It  was  a  hazard 
ous  undertaking,  but  the  subjugation  of  the  country  de 
pended  upon  it. 

According  to  the  prearranged  plan,  Governor  Vargas 
with  one  hundred  and  twenty  Spaniards,  well  equipped 
with  cannon  and  other  arms  of  war  of  the  time,  joined 
the  Queres  under  Ojeda  and  began  the  march  up  the 
valley  toward  Jemez  the  night  of  July  iQth.  The  Ne\v 
Zia  village  on  Mesa  Colorado  was  the  first  hostile  vil 
lage  in  their  line  of  march.  This  they  decided  to  cap 
ture,  if  the  natives  could  not  be  induced  to  surrender 
without  a  battle.  Then  they  would  proceed  on  up  the 


DON  DIEGO  295 

valley  and  capture  the  "  village  on  Mesa  Don  Diego," 
as  the  Spaniards  called  the  mesa  and  fortified  Jemez  vil 
lage  of  Astialakwa,  the  key  to  the  Jemez  region  and  the 
Pueblo  country.  Profiting  by  the  experience  of  former 
Spanish  armies  when  dealing  with  the  Jemez  and  their 
allies,  Vargas  decided  not  to  sleep,  if  possible,  till  the 
places  were  in  his  possession.  Up  the  valley  they  pro 
ceeded,  not  to  a  picnic,  they  all  knew. 

The  approach  of  the  Spaniards  was  signaled  to  both 
Jemez  and  Zia  early  the  morning  of  the  2oth.  The 
Jemez  braves  at  once  joined  the  Zias.  They  ascended 
the  trail  leading  to  the  top  of  the  mesa  on  which  the  Zia 
pueblo  was  situated  and  began  immediately  to  fortify 
the  place.  They  destroyed  or  blocked  all  the  trails  but 
one.  They  piled  heaps  of  stone  and  of  wood  on  the 
edge  of  the  mesa  at  every  possible  place  of  approach. 
They  filled  all  their  water  jars  with  water.  They  built 
a  thick  wall  across  the  entrance  of  their  horseshoe- 
shaped  village.  They  piled  rocks  on  top  of  the  breast 
work  tier  of  buildings  and  the  watch  tower  at  the  en 
trance  to  the  plaza.  They  placed  ladders  against  the 
wall  on  the  outside  at  places  where  they  could  easily  be 
hoisted  to  the  roofs  of  the  seven-  or  eight-story  houses 
and  placed  within  the  public  dancing  area.  They  then 
descended  to  the  valley,  and,  concealing  themselves  be 
hind  trees  and  bowlders  and  in  ravines  and  crevices  in 
the  adobe  clay  valley-bench,  they  waited  the  onset  of  the 
enemy.  This  soon  came. 

The  sun  had  made  half  his  journey  to  the  meridian, 
the  usual  morning  calm  had  reached  its  culmination,  a 
light  breeze  had  begun  to  blow  from  the  southwest,  little 
sand-whirls  had  begun  to  chase  each  other  across  the 


296  DON  DIEGO 

desolate  waste  of  the  valley,  and  the  daily  "  thunder- 
gust  "of  the  season  had  begun  to  gather  on  the  moun 
tain  tops  to  the  north,  when  Vargas  and  his  men  com 
menced  crossing  the  river  where  San  Y  Sidro  is  now 
located.  Soon  the  Spaniards  were  galloping  over  the 
adobe  flat  within  a  mile  of  the  first  coveted  prize.  Be 
fore  them  the  Zia  village  loomed  up  a  continuous  line 
of  adobe-chinked,  red,  sandstone  houses  built  five  hun 
dred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  valley  on  a  practically 
isolated,  triangular  bit  of  mesa  with  base  on  the  river 
valley  side.  The  village  before  them  was  four  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  in  length  and  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
in  width.  The  mesa  was  margined  with  defensive  walls. 
The  mesa  and  the  roofs  of  the  houses  swarmed  with  life. 
Against  the  dull  background  the  sun  blazed  down  on  a 
moving  kaleidoscopic  mass.  The  town  was  alive  with 
natives,  who  proved  to  be  women.  They  were  running 
to  and  fro.  All  were  busily  engaged  in  adding  rocks  to 
the  piles  on  the  edge  of  the  mesa. 

Believing  that  the  Indians  were  all  on  the  mesa  and 
that  the  sooner  the  cavaliers  scaled  its  walls  the  less  it 
would  be  fortified,  the  Spaniards,  not  waiting  for  the 
Indian  allies  to  come  up,  eagerly  leaned  forward  in  their 
stirrups  and  spurred  their  horses  into  a  faster  rate  of 
speed.  The  distance  between  them  and  village  lessened 
to  one  hundred  and  sixty  rods.  Faster  and  faster  they 
rode.  Before  them  not  a  living  thing  showed  itself 
to  view  in  the  valley,  except  some  sun-parched  sagebrush 
and  an  occasional  dwarf  cedar  or  pinon  tree.  Before 
them  the  valley  seemed  smooth  and  unbroken,  when  all 
of  a  sudden  a  maze  of  deep,  narrow,  cross  ravines  ap 
peared  just  in  front  of  them.  The  momentum  carried 


DON  DIEGO  297 

the  foremost  of  the  riders  to  the  very  brink  of  these 
gulches,  the  momentum  of  the  cavalry  in  the  rear 
crowded  those  in  front  into  the  gullies.  The  opportune 
moment  for  the  Indians  concealed  in  these  very  ravines 
had  come.  With  a  whoop  they  fell  upon  the  floundering 
enemy.  The  war  club  did  its  work  well.  Sixteen 
horses  were  dispatched ;  ten  Spaniards  were  killed ;  four 
teen  were  wounded;  and  Vargas  barely  escaped  being 
captured.  Only  with  the  coming  of  the  cannons  and  the 
Indian  allies  were  the  invaders  able  to  dislodge  the 
aborigines.  Routed,  the  Jemez  and  Zias  had  retreated 
across  the  adobe  flat  and  were  ascending  the  trail  to  the 
village  when  the  mounted  knights,  heading  the  ravines, 
made  a  desperate  effort  to  cut  off  their  retreat.  The 
sharp  edged  sword  and  the  flint-point  studded  war  club 
clashed.  The  trail  in  its  lower  part  was  captured;  but 
the  Indians  retreated  quickly  northward  and  ascended 
the  long,  white,  Tertiary  lake-bench  which  here  extends 
out  as  an  arm  from  the  red  mesa  toward  the  river.  Then 
shelfing  it  back  to  the  trail  which  was  being  kept  open  in 
its  upper  part  by  their  comrades,  they  scrambled  up  it, 
blocked  it  behind  them  and  entered  the  village  in  safety. 
The  valley  being  cleared,  the  Spaniards  immediately 
attempted  to  take  the  village  by  storm.  With  great  dif 
ficulty  they  had  the  Queres  drag  the  cannons  to  the  top 
01  the  white  bench,  but  to  take  them  further  was  impossi 
ble  on  account  of  the  precipitous  walls  of  the  mesa 
proper.  An  attempt  to  use  them  also  proved  futile: 
the  walls  were  too  high.  The  cavaliers  dismounting, 
they  and  their  Indian  allies  then  began  to  scale  the  walls. 
The  latter  had  no  weapons  that  they  could  use  at  long 
range,  so  they  climbed  up  the  almost  perpendicular  front 


298  DON  DIEGO 

of  the  mesa  as  fast  as  they  could  drag  themselves  over  the 
incumbent  bowlders  or  shelf  it  from  place  to  place  along 
the  rock  face.  To  get  to  the  top  was  their  only  show: 
there  they  could  do  their  deadly  work  in  a  hand  to  hand 
contest.  The  former  advanced  with  fire  in  hand  and 
shield  in  front.  At  regular  intervals  they  halted,  leveled 
their  heavy  muskets  across  the  "  rests  "  and  fired.  Then, 
though  arrows  fell  upon  them  like  hail  from  a  storm 
cloud,  on  they  advanced.  They  had  crossed  the  old  lake 
terrace  and  had  begun  to  shelf  it  along  the  mesa  side 
before  the  Indian  "  artillery  "  was  brought  into  action. 
Then  instead  of  arrows  raining  harmlessly  down  upon 
them,  tons  of  rock  showered  down.  No  cannonading  of 
that  period  could  have  been  more  sweeping  in  its  effect. 
But  the  assailants,  bent  upon  taking  the  place  at  all  haz 
ards,  dauntlessly  kept  on  climbing  as  they  dodged  the 
flying  missiles  or  hugged  the  walls  so  closely  that  they 
bounced  over  them.  They  reached  the  trail  over  which 
the  Indians  had  ascended  and  began  to  clear  it.  En 
thusiastically  they  worked.  In  a  few  minutes  the  vil 
lage  would  be  theirs,  and  the  glory  would  be  to  the  Holy 
Mary  and  to  the  King  of  Spain.  But  it  had  yet  to  be 
taken.  Don  Diego  was  in  command  of  the  forces  above 
them,  and  before  they  could  scale  the  walls,  the  last  In 
dian  device  would  be  resorted  to.  For  some  time  the 
piles  of  logs  had  been  sending  up  smoke  and  flame  toward 
the  abode  of  those  above.  The  logs  were  all  on  fire,  and 
the  sagacious  war  chief  failed  not  to  use  them  at  this 
juncture.  Over  the  mesa's  edge  the  busy  hands  hurled 
them.  Down  they  came  upon  the  climbing  foe.  Boil 
ing  water,  ponderous  stones,  live  coals  and  red  hot  rock 
all  showered  upon  them  at  the  same  time.  No  living 


DON  DIEGO  299 

thing  could  weather  such  a  storm.  The  enemy  broke 
and  fled.  Again  and  again  Vargas  rallied  his  men,  and 
as  often  they  were  repulsed.  Completely  defeated,  the 
general  at  last  withdrew  to  the  valley.  Then,  on  seeing 
that  his  forces  had  been  greatly  reduced,  he  began,  with 
out  delay,  to  retreat  towards  the  Rio  Grande.  Fearing 
that  the  now  whooping,  shrieking,  victorious  Indians 
would  pursue  them,  the  retreat  became  a  stampede:  the 
cannons  were  abandoned;  the  baggage  was  cast  to  the 
four  winds;  and  the  wounded  were  left  to  be  scalped. 

The  Jemez  and  Zias  immediately  entered  the  valley. 
They  destroyed  the  cannon  carriages,  piled  the  baggage 
in  a  great  heap  and  ignited  it.  They  scalped  and  then 
cremated  the  dead  and  dying  enemies.  Then  around  the 
funeral  pyre  they  danced  the  scalp  dance.  But  their  joy 
was  soon  changed  to  anxiety  and  dread.  The  rings  of 
smoke  ascending  from  Mount  Negro  told  as  plainly  as 
words  that  another  Spanish  army  was  approaching;  that 
is,  that  reinforcements  were  coming. 

At  once  Don  Diego  began  to  strengthen  the  defenses 
of  the  triangular  plateau.  Greater  piles  of  rock  were 
piled  on  its  edge.  The  heaps  of  wood  were  replenished, 
and  the  water  jars  refilled.  The  trails  were  more  thor 
oughly  blocked,  and  every  precaution  possible  was  taken 
to  prevent  the  enemy  from  gaining  access  to  the  pueblo. 

While  the  Indians  were  thus  engaged,  the  two  Span 
ish  divisions  met.  The  reinforcements  were  on  their 
way  to  Santa  Fe,  when,  on  arriving  at  Santa  Anna, 
they  learned  from  a  wounded  cavalier  that  a  fierce  bat 
tle  between  the  Jemez  and  Zias  and  the  Spanish  allies 
was  in  progress  farther  up  the  river.  The  cannonading 
in  the  distance  confirming  the  report,  they  made  haste 


300  DON  DIEGO 

toward  the  scene  of  action.  As  they  advanced,  the  can 
nonading  became  fiercer  and  fiercer;  then  suddenly 
lulled.  Expecting  to  see  their  comrades  victors,  they 
were  not  a  little  surprised  to  come  face  to  face  with  them 
in  full  retreat  in  stampede  order.  On  meeting  the  re 
cruits,  the  retreating  column,  after  a  short  conference, 
faced  about;  and  all  marched  to  avenge  the  slaughter  of 
their  countrymen. 

Knowing  from  his  disastrous  experience  that  it  would 
be  useless  to  attempt  to  take  the  village  from  the  valley 
side  alone,  Vargas  divided  his  now  combined  little  army 
into  two  divisions.  One  section  he  placed  under  the 
charge  of  his  brother,  Don  Eusebio  de  Vargas.  This 
division  he  sent  to  the  front  of  the  pueblo  along  the  same 
route  over  which  he  and  his  soldiers  had  marched  in  the 
previous  case.  With  the  other  section  and  the  newly 
arrived  artillery  he  then  set  out  to  get  a  position  in  the 
rear.  The  task  before  him  was  a  difficult  one. 

In  crossing  the  Jemez  River  south  of  the  present  site 
of  San  Y  Sidro,  a  quicksand  area  was  encountered.  Six 
horses  were  lost  and  one  cannon  had  to  be  abandoned 
for  a  time.  At  the  climbing  of  the  San  Y  Sidro  mesa, 
as  it  is  now  called,  the  cannons  were  dragged  with  great 
difficulty  to  the  top  of  the  old  lake-bench,  then  up  the 
sixty  degree  mesa-slope  which  is  the  reverse  of  the  strata. 
At  last  the  desired  location  was  reached  at  the  north 
edge  of  the  mesa.  This  overlooked  the  village  from  the 
rear,  but  was  separated  from  it  by  a  deep,  narrow 
canyada.  The  distance  across  the  chasm,  however,  was 
not  so  great  but  that  the  field  pieces  could  reach  every 
part  of  the  mesa  opposite  with  their  iron  messages. 

As  soon  as  the  cannons  were  got  into  position,  the 


DON  DIEGO  301 

bombardment  began.  Simultaneously  an  assault  was 
made  both  at  the  front  of  the  mesa  and  also  from  the 
rear  under  cover  of  the  cannonading.  The  rocks,  burn 
ing  logs,  and  boiling  water  repulsed  the  attack  at  the 
front,  but  the  assault  by  the  chasm  in  the  rear  was  on 
the  point  of  being  a  success  before  Don  Diego  could 
spare  braves  from  the  front  to  check  it.  The  Spanish 
allies  were  actually  gaining  the  mesa  on  the  side  which 
the  Jemez  and  Zias  had  always  considered  unapproach 
able.  Rushing  to  the  exposed  section,  the  war-captain 
and  his  courageous  warriors  promptly  dispatched  the 
pale-faces  and  Indians  who  had  scaled  the  walls.  Then 
they  commenced  using  the  Indian  "  artillery  "  on  the  cav 
aliers  who  were  scrambling  up  the  walls  or  were  in  the 
chasm  below.  A  dozen  mounted  Spaniards  had  de 
scended  to  the  chasm  from  its  upper  part.  The  gulch 
being  so  narrow,  these  became  a  fair  target.  As  the 
horses  were  headed  down  stream  and  the  hurling  of  the 
rocks  was  more  in  the  rear  than  in  front,  the  animals 
frantically  rushed  forward.  The  shrieks  and  whoops  of 
the  Indians  and  the  flying  missiles  goaded  them  on. 
Down  the  slope  they  ran,  slipped  or  slid  at  a  break-neck 
speed,  came  to  the  falls  where  the  red  mesa  meets  the 
softer  Tertiary,  jumped  headlong  and  fell,  both  horses 
and  riders  a  shapeless  mass  in  the  gulf  below.  But  the 
cannonading  was  effective  from  the  very  beginning.  The 
first  discharge  knocked  an  oval  adobe  oven  from  the  roof 
of  a  seven-story  house,  killing  a  woman  and  three  chil 
dren  with  the  flying  debris.  Soon  puncture  after  punc 
ture  was  made  in  the  horseshoe-shaped  village  wall. 
At  length  breaches  were  made  in  it.  Then  the  houses 
began  to  tumble  down  one  by  one.  The  whole  village 


302  DON  DIEGO 

was  soon  reduced  to  a  mass  of  ruins,  as  it  is  this  day, 
and  the  piles  of  the  dead  and  dying  covered  the  triangu 
lar  mesa  from  base  to  point.  Night  only  put  an  end  to 
the  horrible  slaughter. 

The  work  of  the  day  had  been  appalling  in  its  effects. 
One  Spanish  army  had  been  nearly  blotted  out  of  ex 
istence,  while  annihilation  had  almost  faced  another. 
The  village  of  Zia  had  been  reduced  to  a  shapeless  mass, 
and  of  the  thousands  of  Zias  who  had  looked  in  the  face 
of  the  god  of  day  in  the  early  morning,  according  to  the 
Spanish  records,  so  few  lived  to  see  the  sun  set  behind  the 
red  ridge  to  the  west  that  the  Zia  tribe  could,  in  truth, 
have  been  said  to  exist  in  name  only ;  the  tribe  to-day  num 
bers  one  hundred  and  seventeen  souls.  But  notwithstand 
ing  the  utter  desolation  of  the  mesa,  Ojeda  and  his  allies 
were  repulsed  in  an  attempt  to  capture  it  in  the  late  twi 
light  of  that  fateful  day. 

Having  put  to  death  all  the  wounded  natives  to  pre 
vent  their  falling  into  the  enemies'  hands,  Don  Diego 
and  the  remnant  of  his  braves  and  the  few  remaining 
Zias  fled  under  cover  of  the  darkness  to  Jemez.  At 
dawn  the  next  morning,  the  Spaniards  took  possession 
of  the  village,  twenty-four  hours  before  a  place  inhab 
ited  by  living,  moving,  happy  beings,  now  a  place  of  utter 
desolation. 

According  to  the  Jemez  custom  that  a  returning  war 
party  never  enters  their  own  village  directly  but  halts  at 
some  distance  from  it  and  sends  messengers  to  advise 
the  people  of  its  approach,  Don  Diego,  on  arriving  at  the 
foot  of  the  Jemez  mesa,  sent  a  runner  to  inform  the 
village  that  the  war  party  was  approaching.  Then  he 
and  his  men  waited.  Soon  the  chief  sun  priest,  accom- 


DON  DIEGO  303 

panied  by  the  runner,  approached  the  silent  little  band. 
He  went  straight  to  the  war-captain,  grasped  his  hand, 
breathed  on  it  in  blessing,  lifted  it  up  with  both  hands 
toward  the  goddess  of  night,  dropped  it,  clasped  the 
man  in  his  arms  a  moment,  breathed  on  him  and  said : 
"  Brother,  what  have  you  achieved  and  how  have  you 
fared?" 

In  a  tone  of  intense  sorrow  Don  Diego  answered  him : 
"  Those  above  have  not  been  good  to  us.  Of  those  who 
went  out  with  me,  but  few  have  returned.  And  what 
is  still  worse,  though  we  reduced  one  pale- face  army  to 
nothing  and  another  almost  to  the  same  point,  a  third, 
as  you  have  seen,  has  destroyed  Zia,  and  will  be  march 
ing  to  take  our  village  by  assault  by  the  time  the  sun 
lifts  his  face  above  the  mountains  at  his  rising.  We 
must  prepare  to  defend  this  place  at  once.  To-morrow 
will  be  too  late.  It  must  be  done  to-night." 

After  reflecting  a  moment  upon  the  condition  of  af 
fairs  and  what  was  best  to  be  done,  the  Indian  high  priest 
said :  "  It  is  contrary  to  our  customs  for  a  band  of 
braves  to  enter  our  pueblo  at  once  upon  returning  from 
a  military  expedition.  From  the  time  of  its  arrival  till 
the  sun  has  reached  the  same  point  in  the  heavens  the 
next  day,  the  warriors  wait  at  some  distance  from  the 
village,  where  they  are  provided  with  the  necessaries  of 
life.  Afterwards  they  are  conducted  to  the  public 
square.  But  in  this  case  necessity  demands  that  you 
enter  immediately.  I  will  go  and  present  the  situation 
before  the  gods  and  will  prepare  for  your  coming  as 
quickly  as  possible.  When  you  hear  the  big  drum,  pro 
ceed  to  climb  the  trail.  We  will  be  waiting  to  receive 
you  at  the  entrance  of  the  public  dancing  area." 


304  DON  DIEGO 

In  a  few  minutes  the  drum  sounded  from  the  top  of 
the  sun  house.  In  dreary  silence  the  war  party  began 
to  move  upward.  Not  a  shout,  not  a  whoop  was  uttered ; 
not  a  scalp  was  waved  on  high  in  triumph,  though  they 
had  more  than  a  hundred.  Silently  onward  they  pro 
ceeded.  On  entering  the  plaza,  they  found  the  populace 
lined  up  in  double  column  to  meet  them  practically  as 
they  had  left  them  the  day  before,  but  now  not  so  hopeful 
as  then.  They  had  seen  Zia  destroyed  and  knew  that  the 
worst  was  to  come.  Sad  and  silent  they  stood  until 
Don  Diego,  with  his  few  remaining  braves,  followed  by 
the  Zia  refugees,  commenced  marching  down  between  the 
separated  columns,  as  the  sun  priest  and  his  aids  sprin 
kled  them  with  sacred  meal  and  corn  pollen  and  blowed 
their  breath  on  them  in  prayer.  Then  a  plaintive  wail 
broke  forth  among  the  Jemez  women.  The  Zia  women 
took  it  up.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  ceremonies  of 
the  dead. 

As  the  blood-stained  warriors  moved  forward  and  the 
great  number  of  the  missing  became  more  and  more  evi 
dent,  the  wail  was  more  and  more  intensified.  The 
women  wept,  screamed,  rolled  in  the  dust  of  the  street, 
shredded  their  clothes,  tore  their  hair,  and  gashed  them 
selves  with  rude  stone  knives  and  bone  awls.  Then  in 
their  savage  way  they  rushed  from  house  to  house;  took 
the  clothes,  weapons,  looms  of  the  deceased,  for  every 
house  was  represented  by  the  dead,  and  burned  them  so 
that  as  flame,  smoke,  and  steam  the  things  of  the  de 
parted  might  accompany  them  through  the  air  in  their 
four  days'  journey  to  the  happy  hunting  ground. 

As  soon  as  the  property  was  destroyed,  the  women, 
aided  by  the  medicine  men,  drew  on  the  adobe  floor  in 


THE  MORNING  STAR  SECTION 

1.  Clouds. 

2.  Bolt  Lightning  that  does  not  strike  the  ground. 

3.  The  Red  Snake  or  Indian  Devil. 

4.  The  Flash  Lightning  or  God  of  Flowers. 

5.  The  Blue  Snake,  the  God  of  Rain. 

6.  The  Morning  Star. 


IV.    THE  EVENING  STAR  SECTION  IN  ONE  OF  THE  ESTUFAS  AT  JEMEZ,  N.  M. 

1.  Clouds. 

2.  Bolt  Lightning  that  does  not  strike  the  ground. 

3.  The  Red  Snake  or  Indian  Devil. 

4.  The  Flash  Lightning  or  God  of  Flowers. 

5.  The  Blue  Snake,  the  God  of  Rain. 

6.  The  Evening  Star,  the  God  of  the  Evening.     Jointly  with  its  brother, 
the  Morning  Star,  it  possesses  the  attributes  of  Truth  and  Filial  Love.     Its 
Indian   name  is  Homa  Wangho. 


DON  DIEGO  305 

the  living  room  of  each  dwelling  a  large  sun-circle  with 
four  projecting  darts  of  protection,  one  extending  in 
each  of  the  four  cardinal  directions.  Within  this  circle 
they  then  placed  a  small,  crudely  carved  wooden  effigy  of 
the  dead  one.  Over  this  they  threw  a  new  piece  of  cloth. 
Then  on  one  side  of  this  effigy  they  placed  a  new  earthen 
jar  rilled  with  water;  on  the  other  side,  a  basket  of  eata 
bles.  These  things  they  furnished  so  that  neither  thirst 
nor  hunger  should  cause  the  traveling  spirit  to  suffer. 
Furthermore,  as  the  road  the  soul  has  to  travel  is  long, 
dangerous,  and  beset  by  evil  spirits  lying  in  wait  to  cap 
ture  the  defunct  or  to  hamper  his  ultimate  felicity,  they 
laid  beside  the  image  a  small  war  club  and  a  bow  and 
some  arrows  within  the  representative  circle  of  the  god 
of  day  to  protect  the  deceased  from  harm  in  his  transit. 
Moreover,  to  render  the  journey  safe  beyond  doubt,  they 
drew  without  the  circle  the  footprints  of  the  great  Pest- 
ya-sode,  the  "  road  runner "  who  protects  the  souls  in 
their  journey  to  the  abode  of  the  good  dead.  As  soon 
as  these  things  were  done,  the  women  gathered  in  a  circle 
around  the  image  and  the  drawings  and  wept,  sobbed, 
screamed,  yelled,  howled,  whined,  danced,  sprinkled  sa 
cred  corn  meal  and  pollen  toward  the  abode  of  those  on 
high,  and  prayed  loudly  to  the  gods  for  the  safe  journey 
of  the  departed  soul  and  its  arrival  in  the  land  of  bliss. 

While  the  women  and  the  medicine  men  were  engaged 
in  the  ceremonies  of  the  dead,  Don  Diego  and  his  as 
sistants  were  also  busy.  They  called  out  a  part  of  the 
reserves  and  sent  them  to  the  front.  These  the  war- 
captain  ordered  to  lie  in  wait  for  the  enemy  at  a  point 
where  "  Red  Rock "  flat  wedges  in  at  the  north,  just, 
south  of  the  present  Mexican  village  of  Canon.  With 


306  DON  DIEGO 

the  remaining  braves  he  piled  rocks  and  wood  on  the 
edge  of  the  mesa  and  along  the  trail  to  be  used  as  Indian 
"  artillery  "  in  defensive  warfare.  As  soon  as  the  de 
fensive  operations  were  well  under  way,  Don  Diego 
then  ordered  the  old  men,  boys  and  girls  and  the  women, 
who  were  not  otherwise  engaged,  to  carry  water.  This 
they  did  till  the  containing  vessels  of  every  sort  and  the 
cisterns  of  the  village  were  filled  to  the  brim.  Then  he 
sent  the  populace  to  gather  in  all  the  crops  which  had 
matured,  also  all  the  valuables  from  Patokwa,  the  vil 
lage  on  the  lower  mesa.  Soon  long  lines  of  baskets  could 
be  seen  passing  to  and  fro  from  the  valley  to  the  mesa- 
village.  All  were  as  busy  as  a  nest  of  ants  that  had  just 
been  disturbed.  A  siege  was  being  prepared  for,  should 
it  come  to  that. 

The  sun  came  up.  The  big  drum  on  the  estufa 
sounded  the  call  to  arms.  The  Spaniards  were  seen  to 
resume  their  march  up  the  river.  The  cavalry  and  a  few 
foot  soldiers  occupied  the  van.  The  artillery  had  to  go 
back  down  the  mesa  as  it  had  come  by  way  of  San  Y 
Sidro  and  was,  of  course,  several  hours  in  the  rear. 
Profiting  by  their  previous  experience,  the  advancing 
column  took  every  precaution  possible  to  prevent  a  sur 
prise.  They  not  only  picked  their  way  slowly,  but  sent 
out  scouts  to  feel  for  the  enemy  on  both  flanks  and  in 
front.  Slowly  but  steadily  onward  they  moved. 

The  sun  rose  over  the  southern  wing  of  the  Cochiti 
range  as  in  the  previous  centuries  and  looked  down  into 
the  valley  now  quiet  but  soon  to  be  in  the  throes  of  a 
mortal  conflict.  He  cast  his  red  rays  against  the  eastern 
walls  of  the  Zia  mesa  and  these  were  reflected  back  to 
the  gray  hills  east  of  the  river.  He  shone  down  upon  the 


DON  DIEGO  307 

Zia  mesa,  the  day  before  a  place  of  habitation,  now  a 
desolate  waste.  Scarcely  had  he  been  above  the  horizon 
an  hour  when  the  clash  in  the  valley  came. 

Reaching  the  place  in  the  flat-floored  valley  where 
the  red  point  east  of  the  river  extends  out  to  meet  the 
white  Tertiary  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  stream,  the 
Spaniards  found  the  Indians  marshaled  in  battle  array 
to  meet  them.  The  warriors  were  painted  in  the  medi 
cine  colors  of  their  respective  clans.  They  were  decked 
with  feathers.  Nearly  all  wore  rawhide  coats  for  pro 
tection  ;  nearly  all  carried  shields ;  and  all  were  well 
armed  for  savages.  The  shields  were  of  rawhide,  of 
quilted  cloth,  of  wood  or  of  tortoise  shells.  To  make 
them  more  proof  against  the  enemies'  missiles,  all  were 
painted  in  medicine  colors ;  and  for  the  same  purpose,  all 
were  decorated  in  symbolic  designs,  the  sun  symbol  usu 
ally  occupying  a  conspicuous  position.  Then  to  render 
each  shield  impenetrable,  beyond  doubt,  a  red  painted 
piece  of  buckskin  rimmed  its  face  from  which  about 
forty  tail  feathers  of  the  eagle  suspended  as  medicine. 
The  arms  were  war  clubs,  heavy  two-handed  wooden 
swords,  slings,  darts,  Indian  hatchets,  bows  and  arrows. 
In  the  center  of  the  multitude  of  warriors  stood  the  medi 
cine  man.  He  was  slowly  beating  the  rude  drum,  while 
he  and  eleven  assistants  were  chanting  a  prayer  to  those 
above.  Finishing  the  chant,  the  medicine  chief  and  his 
associates  sprinkled  each  brave  with  the  sacred  yellow 
pollen,  breathed  on  him  in  blessing,  and  commanded  him 
in  the  name  of  the  gods  to  fight  till  the  last  enemy's  scalp 
was  taken,  and  the  mutilated  body  was  given  to  the 
wolves. 

Meanwhile  the  Spaniards  had  approached  dangerously 


3o8  DON  DIEGO 

near.  The  large  Indian  drum  gave  a  heavy  muffled 
sound;  and  the  natives  fell  upon  the  invaders,  as  they 
whooped :  "  Aoo,  aoo,  aoo,  aoo,  aoo."  The  cavalry 
at  first  wavered,  then  rallied.  The  foremost  braves  went 
down  before  the  sword  and  gun.  Through  and  through 
the  crowded  mass  of  savages  the  cavaliers  rode  as  death 
followed  in  their  train.  But  unsupported  by  the  artil 
lery  and  the  allied  Queres  having  been  routed  in  the  first 
onslaught,  their  efforts  in  the  long  run  were  of  no  avail : 
hundreds  of  the  Jemez  were  ready  to  rush  over  the 
bodies  of  their  fallen  comrades  to  engage  the  enemy. 
The  savages  fought  hand  to  hand  with  men  armored 
with  more  efficient  weapons  than  their  own;  but  what 
they  lacked  in  arms  they  made  up  in  courage  and  in  num 
bers.  They  crushed  the  shields  and  armor  of  their  ad 
versaries  with  the  heavy  war  club.  They  broke  the 
horses'  legs.  They  dragged  the  riders  from  their  sad 
dles  and  crushed  them  to  death  with  bowlders  or  with 
the  mutilating  club.  It  was  the  battle  of  Si-you-kwaw 
over  again,  but  with  a  different  set  of  actors  for  the  most 
part;  the  actors  of  that  terrible  engagement  had  passed 
over,  in  the  main,  to  the  great  beyond. 

The  Spaniards  again  wavered.  They  feigned  a  re 
treat.  The  Indians  eagerly  followed.  The  Spaniards 
then  quickly  faced  about,  cut  their  way  through  the  Indian 
front,  and,  leaving  the  braves  behind,  rode  furiously 
toward  the  mesa  of  the  village,  believing  that  by  captur 
ing  the  pueblo  the  Indians  would  be  more  easily  forced 
to  make  terms.  But  the  Jemez,  who  had  practiced  from 
year  to  year  to  win  the  laurels  of  the  harvest  and  snake 
races,  followed  close  upon  their  heels,  and,  before  half 
the  distance  to  the  village  was  covered,  they  began  to 


DON  DIEGO  309 

gain  upon  them.  And  as  the  grade  toward  the  village 
became  greater,  they  came  up  with  them  and  even  com 
menced  placing  themselves  in  their  front.  Spurring 
their  horses  on,  the  Spaniards  gained  a  second  time  on 
the  Indians,  but  for  a  moment  only  did  they  profit  by 
this  gain.  Don  Diego  and  a  division  of  fresh  braves 
blocked  their  front.  The  sword  and  the  war  club  clashed 
again.  The  cavaliers  were  routed  and  fled  disorderly 
down  the  valley,  hotly  pursued  by  Don  Diego  and  his 
warriors. 

Suddenly  the  Jemez  came  face  to  face  with  the  Queres 
under  Ojeda,  who  had  rallied  them  in  the  rear  for  a  final 
stand.  At  the  same  moment  the  Spanish  cannon  arrived 
on  the  scene  of  action.  The  field  pieces  were  at  once 
turned  upon  the  charging  hordes,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
the  front  was  cleared.  Then  the  advance  toward  the 
village  was  again  resumed.  The  forward  movement, 
however,  was  not  a  pleasure  trip.  The  moment  the  can 
nons  were  coupled  to  the  timber  to  be  moved,  the  Indians 
would  rush  upon  the  Spaniards  in  full  force;  and,  as 
soon  as  the  field  pieces  were  brought  into  action,  they 
would  get  out  of  reach  of  the  flying  slugs,  retiring  with 
the  same  swiftness  that  they  had  attacked;  their  motion 
back  and  forth  resembled  the  rolling  sea,  whose  waves 
are  driven  back  by  the'  wind.  To  prevent  these  on 
slaughts,  Vargas  at  last  took  this  plan:  one  cannon  was 
to  keep  meting  out  death  to  the  enemy  while  other  field 
pieces  and  the  cavalry  advanced  under  cover  of  the  fire, 
until  an  advantageous  position  was  gained  by  another 
cannon.  This  one  then  opened  fire,  and  the  other  field 
pieces  were  rapidly  moved  forward.  Thus  did  the 
Spaniards  proceed,  taking  every  inch  by  force,  till  the 


3io  DON  DIEGO 

very  mesa  was  reached,  on  which  the  coveted  goal  was 
situated.  But  they  had  not  succeeded  in  reaching  it  till 
all  the  matured  crops  had  been  gathered  and  stored  on 
the  roofs  of  the  houses  and  not  until  water  enough  had 
been  stored  in  the  cisterns  to  last  the  inhabitants  for 
months. 

Driving  the  Indians  up  the  trail,  Vargas  immediately 
tried  to  take  the  place ;  but  the  stone  "  artillery  "  hurled 
from  a  great  height  repulsed  his  allied  forces  again  and 
again.  He  then  attempted  to  place  the  cannons  on  the 
site  overlooking  the  village,  as  he  had  done  at  Zia;  but 
no  such  a  place  in  range  of  "  Mesa  Don  Diego  "  could  be 
found.  He  then  made  a  determined  effort  again  to 
rush  the  trail  and  take  the  place,  but  this  attack  was  dis 
astrous.  One- fourth  of  the  allies  engaged  in  it  per 
ished  and  another  fourth  were  so  wounded  that  they 
were  of  no  further  use  in  the  campaign.  After  this  fail 
ure,  it  became  evident  that  the  stronghold  could  be 
reduced  only  by  a  siege.  So  at  dusk  the  much  disap 
pointed  allies  sat  down  around  the  mesa  to  let  thirst  and 
hunger  or  an  unguarded  moment  do  what  they  could 
not  do  with  arms.* 

That  night,  her  husband  being  in  a  measure  victorious, 
Geetlu  sprinkled  the  sacred  meal  before  each  of  the  gods 
and  on  each  of  the  altars  in  the  front  room  of  the  house. 
A  little  later  she  began  to  prepare  the  ceremonial  tri 
umphal  meal  for  her  lord  and  war  chief,  when  he  could 
wash  off  his  war  paint  and  be  with  her  again.  She  se 
lected  some  fresh  venison  and  laid  it  in  a  place  for  safe 
keeping  for  the  special  use.  She  then  shelled  some  corn, 
parched  it  in  a  willow  basket  by  mixing  live  coals  with 

*  Author's  license. 


DON  DIEGO  311 

the  corn  as  she  stirred  it  and  shook  the  basket  simul 
taneously.  She  then  crushed  the  corn  on  the  grinding 
slabs,  as  she  sang  a  praise  song  to  those  above.  She 
thought  only  of  her  present  happiness,  happiness  which 
was  soon  to  vanish  like  a  mist  before  the  morning  sun. 
On  she  ground  the  corn;  first  on  the  crushing  slab,  then 
on  a  finer  grained  slab,  and  finally  on  a  very  fine  grained 
one  till  the  meal  was  as  fine  as  the  finest  flour.  In 
this  work  the  slabs  used  were  placed  before  her  much 
like  a  washboard  stands  before  a  woman  when  washing 
clothes,  and  in  her  hand  she  gripped  a  stone  hand-piece 
which  she  rubbed  up  and  down  on  the  respective  slab's 
face. 

When  the  grinding  was  completed,  she  made  the  meal 
into  mush,  stirring  it  with  two  small  sticks  as  it  cooked. 
When  done,  she  let  it  cool  for  a  considerable  time.  She 
then  built  a  fire  under  a  large  flat  rock  in  her  "  paper- 
bread  "  kitchen;  and  as  soon  as  the  rock  was  sufficiently 
hot,  she  commenced  to  make  "  paper  "  corn  bread.  In 
doing  this  she  took  the  mush  and  made  it  into  a  thin 
paste  by  adding  water  to  it.  With  her  bare  hands  she 
then  spread  it  on  the  flat  rock  in  layers  as  thin  as  writing 
paper.  When  one  layer  was  baked  she  took  it  off,  laid 
it  out  flat,  and  put  on  another.  To  facilitate  the  baking, 
she  placed  a  baked  sheet  over  the  unbaked  one  for  a  mo 
ment  to  hold  the  heat  in.  This  bread  making  she  con 
tinued  till  her  "  paper  "  loaf  was  about  two  and  one- 
half  inches  thick.  She  then  took  the  "  volume  "  and 
wrapped  it  in  some  buckskin  and  placed  it  in  a  large 
earthen  jar  where  it  would  keep  fresh  till  the  time  came 
for  it  to  be  eaten. 

Having  completed  the  feast  as  far  as  she  could  till 


312  DON  DIEGO 

Don  Diego  himself  was  present,  she  then  set  out  to  make 
the  customary  rounds  of  the  village  to  pay  her  respects 
to  the  dead  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  dead.  Into  each 
house  she  went,  seated  herself  among  the  mourners  a 
moment,  yelled,  wept,  and  shrieked  as  did  the  others. 
It  was  the  fashion  and  the  Indian  as  her  white  sister 
might  as  well  be  out  of  the  world  as  out  of  fashion. 
Then  to  the  next  house  and  so  on  she  went  till  she  had 
made  the  circuit  of  the  village. 

Reaching  her  mother's  residence  she  sat  down  a  few 
minutes.  She  had  no  brothers  to  be  killed  by  the  white 
enemy;  and  her  father  had  long  since  been  laid  to  rest 
in  the  shade  of  the  pifions.  All  was  still  in  the  house. 
She  was  all  by  herself.  Her  mother  was  one  of  the  of 
ficial  mourners  of  the  place  and  must  needs  be  absent 
most  of  the  time.  All  alone  she  sat  for  a  considerable 
time.  Then  the  din  of  the  new  style  of  battle  attracted 
her  attention. 

Hearing  that  Don  Diego  had  sent  messengers  to  San 
Ildefonso  and  other  villages  for  help,  Vargas  and  Ojeda 
decided  to  make  another  assault  on  the  place.  Accord 
ing  to  the  plan,  they  suddenly  massed  all  their  strength 
in  a  great  effort  to  capture  the  northwest  trail ;  the  only 
other  trail  was  blocked.  A  most  desperate  conflict  en 
sued.  It  was  the  uproar  of  this  battle  which  Geetlu 
heard. 

Leaving  the  house,  she  went  to  the  edge  of  the  mesa 
on  the  contested  side  and  looked  on  the  murderous  con 
flict  in  the  flat,  hundreds  of  feet  below.  Around  her  stood 
a  great  many  of  the  Jemez  women.  All  about  her  were 
much  frightened,  but  she  looked  on  the  scene  as  if 
it  were  a  dream.  The  cannonading  startled  her  at  times, 


DON  DIEGO  313 

it  is  true,  but  that  was  all.  She  had  been  having  day 
dreams  of  late  and  this  was  a  continuation  of  them, 
she  thought.  Not  until  Vargas  and  his  men  were  actu 
ally  in  the  act  of  carrying  the  village  by  capturing  the 
trail  did  the  thing  become  a  reality  to  her.  She  saw  her 
hero  rallying  his  men  to  defend  the  only  place  of  ap 
proach.  She  could  distinctly  hear  his  voice  above  the 
roar,  calling  his  braves  to  stand  firm.  But  notwith 
standing  the  efforts  of  his  men,  she  could  see  that  the 
allies  were  steadily  gaining  ground.  Only  a  few  min 
utes  more  and  the  fate  of  the  place  would  be  sealed  for 
that  day  at  least.  The  women  in  company  with  her 
fled ;  but  she  anxiously  waited  the  result. 

"Hang  ahtung"  (come  here  quick),  shouted  Don 
Diego  to  his  men.  Intuitively  Geetlu  moved  toward  the 
rushing  hordes.  A  huge  stone,  weighing  several  tons, 
was  being  pried  from  the  edge  of  the  mesa.  "  Hang  " 
(heave  ho),  shouted  Don  Diego.  "Hang,"  shouted  the 
war-captain  again.  The  rock  began  to  roll.  "Hang!" 
The  rock  stood  as  if  in  suspense  a  moment;  then  with  a 
crash  like  a  clap  of  thunder  it  rolled  into  the  valley  down 
'the  line  of  the  Spanish  advance.  The  allies  in  its  path 
were  no  more.  Governor  Vargas  himself  barely  es 
caped  being  crushed,  his  brother  Eusebio  snatching  him 
from  the  bowlder's  path  just  in  time  to  save  him.  The 
Spaniards  were  defeated.  Instantly  the  victorious  war 
whoop  filled  the  air,  and  the  big  drum  on  the  estufa 
gave  forth  the  heavy,  loud  sound  of  triumph.  The  can 
non  in  the  valley  below  also  gave  forth  a  parting,  re 
vengeful  discharge.  Then  the  allies  fled. 

Geetlu,  animated  with  joy,  turned  to  join  the  other 
women  at  the  village.  The  discharges  from  the  big 


3H  DON  DIEGO 

guns  struck  the  upper  stratum  in  her  immediate  vicinity. 
A  piece  of  flying  debris  struck  her.  The  next  moment 
she  felt  herself  falling;  then  all  was  blank. 

After  the  excitement  had  subsided,  all  the  Indians, 
except  some  detachments  that  were  left  to  guard  the 
trail,  returned  to  the  village.  It  was  still  night.  Few, 
however,  were  overtaken  with  sleep.  At  any  moment 
the  enemy  might  renew  the  assault.  Besides  that,  many 
of  the  Indians  had  started  on  that  day  on  their  long  pil 
grimage  to  the  abode  of  the  good  Indian  dead.  Conse 
quently,  the  howling  for  the  departed  and  the  prepara 
tions  for  the  last  ceremonies  over  the  dead,  employed 
most  of  the  people. 

Geetlu  was  absent  from  her  home;  but  her  mother, 
believing  that  her  daughter  was  engaged  in  some  of  the 
night  exercises,  troubled  herself  not  the  least  about  her 
absence.  Not  until  Don  Diego  inquired  about  his  wife's 
whereabouts  did  the  mother  become  anxious  about  her 
daughter.  At  once  both  she  and  Don  Diego  set  out  to 
inquire  for  her ;  but  she  was  nowhere  to  be  found.  The 
only  information  that  could  be  obtained  concerning  her 
at  all  was  that  she  had  been  seen  standing  on  the  edge 
of  the  mesa  just  a  little  while  before  the  big  stone  was 
rolled  down  the  trail.  That  was  all. 

Don  Diego  went  to  the  spot  where  she  was  said  to  have 
been  standing,  and  to  his  horror  he  found  that  the  rocks 
had  been  shattered  by  a  cannon  ball.  This  was  all  he 
could  find.  There  was  not  the  least  thing  to  show  that 
a  human  being  had  ever  been  there.  Going  to  the  trail, 
he  descended  it,  believing,  more  from  intuition  than  from 
indications,  that  the  one  he  was  seeking  had  fallen  over 
the  cliff.  Entering  the  flat  country  at  the  foot  of  the 


DON  DIEGO  315 

trail,  he  got  down  on  the  ground  and  crawled  about  like  a 
snake,  looking  in  every  direction  for  an  enemy,  but  saw 
none.  The  Spaniards  had  retreated  a  considerable  dis 
tance  before  pitching  camp.  Their  pickets,  however, 
were  close  to  the  mesa,  though  Don  Diego  failed  to  ob 
serve  any  of  them.  Believing  he  had  an  open  field,  he 
stood  upright  and  walked  along  the  edge  of  the  cliff 
where  his  wife  had  been  seen  last.  The  mesa  walls  were 
not  quite  so  steep  here  as  at  most  places.  Furthermore, 
several  pifion  trees  grew  one  above  another  on  the  pro 
jecting  benches.  Someone  had  fallen  through  these 
trees.  It  had  been  a  woman.  A  moccasin  and  a  panya, 
the  apron  which  the  Pueblo  squaw  wears  suspended  at 
the  back,  were  there.  Don  Diego  eagerly  picked  them  up 
and  was  trying  to  identify  them  in  the  moonlight  when 
"  whang  "  went  the  musket  of  a  picket.  The  cavalier 
missed  his  target.  Flat  to  the  ground  fell  the  Indian. 
Instantly  his  bow  was  drawn.  The  arrow  went  home  to 
its  mark.  A  man  fell  heavily  to  the  ground.  With  a 
whoop,  the  warrior  sprang  upon  him,  jumped  upon  his 
breast,  encircled  the  hair  with  a  deep  cut,  wrenched  the 
bleeding  scalp  from  the  head,  and,  before  the  comrades 
of  the  dead  man  could  appear  upon  the  scene,  he  was  half 
way  up  the  trail. 

Reaching  the  village,  Don  Diego  went  direct  to  the 
house  of  Geetlu's  mother  and  presented  his  findings. 
The  mother  identified  the  panya  at  once  as  that  of 
her  daughter.  Then  believing  her  dead  on  account  of 
the  clotted  blood  on  the  Indian  apron,  she  sent  up  the 
death  wrail.  Soon  the  relatives  and  friends  joined  in  the 
ceremonies,  and  all  howled  the  mournful  coyote  howl 
for  hours  together. 


316  DON  DIEGO 

Don  Diego,  however,  had  hopes  that  Geetlu  was  alive. 
Had  she  been  dead,  he  would  certainly  have  found  her 
corpse.  She  was  undoubtedly  wandering  in  the  flat  or 
had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  But  as  the 
white  man  and  his  allies  had  the  land  beyond  the  mesa, 
no  one  dare  venture  to  look  for  her  further  that  night. 
The  fates  would  have  to  take  care  of  her. 

The  night  passed  and  the  second  day  of  the  mourning 
for  the  dead  dawned.  The  sun  rose  with  a  smoke- 
wreathed  face  which  caused  the  Indians  much  alarm. 
Nothing  of  importance,  however,  occurred  throughout 
the  day,  except  the  continual  shrieking  and  howling  for 
the  dead.  The  Spaniards  were  busy  burying  their  dead 
and  had  neither  time  nor  inclination  to  renew  the  assault 
upon  the  place. 

The  sun  rose  again  and  rode  majestically  to  the  op 
posite  horizon  and  disappeared.  Yet  nothing  of  military 
importance  occurred,  except  that  Don  Diego  commenced 
re-strengthening  the  defenses  of  the  pueblo,  and  Vargas 
commenced  making  cannon  carriages  to  replace  those  that 
had  been  destroyed  by  the  Indians  in  front  of  Zia. 

Nothing  up  to  this  time  had  been  heard  of  Geetlu, 
though  searches  had  been  made  for  her.  Just  at  sunset, 
however,  on  this  third  day  an  Indian  woman  appeared 
in  front  of  the  headquarters  of  the  allies  and  with  the 
obsidian  slab  she  carried  at  her  breast,  she  reflected  rays 
of  light  to  the  village.  The  woman  was  Geetlu.  The 
signal  was  read  and  quickly  answered.  When  the  moon 
reached  the  meridian,  she  would  slip  out  of  Ojeda's  tent, 
for  she  was  a  prisoner  in  his  camp,  crawl  past  the  guards 
and  make  her  way  across  the  flat  to  the  trail  leading  to 
the  mesa.  Don  Diego  answered  back  by  means  of  an- 


DON  DIEGO  317 

other  piece  of  volcanic  glass  that  he  and  his  warriors 
would  be  in  the  valley  to  meet  her. 

The  moon  passed  the  meridian;  but  no  woman  ap 
peared  in  the  valley.  Don  Diego  became  impatient.  An 
hour  or  more  passed.  The  war  chief  could  wait  no 
longer.  It  would  soon  be  daylight  and  then  it  would 
be  too  late.  Leaving  his  men,  he  crawled  from  tree  to 
tree,  from  bowlder  to  bowlder  till  he  reached  the  tent 
before  which  he  had  seen  Geetlu  the  evening  before. 
In  the  doorway  of  the  tent  he  found  a  sentinel  stationed. 
For  some  time  he  was  puzzled  what  to  do  under  the  cir 
cumstances.  Should  he  fail  and  fall  into  Ojeda's  hands, 
death  was  his  doom.  The  first  thing  of  importance  was 
to  ascertain  that  his  wife  was  in  the  inclosure.  The  next 
thing,  should  she  be  there,  was  to  get  her  safely  away 
and  with  the  least  possible  noise,  so  as  to  avoid  arousing 
the  allied  camp.  The  first  task  was  easily  accomplished. 
Don  Diego  whistled  a  low  "  Bob-white,"  and,  after  wait 
ing  time  enough  to  avoid  suspicion,  Geetlu  answered, 
"  White."  To  rescue  the  woman  was  the  next  thing. 
Slipping  up  behind  the  half-asleep,  unsuspecting  guard, 
Don  Diego  sprang  upon  him,  stabbed  him  to  the  heart, 
covered  his  mouth  with  a  firm  hand  to  keep  him  from 
giving  the  alarm  and  held  him  to  the  ground  till  death 
claimed  him.  He  then  picked  the  woman  up  in  his  arms 
and  ran  toward  the  trail,  only  regretting  that  he  had 
not  had  a  chance  to  kill  Ojeda  instead  of  the  innocent 
guard.  He  passed  half  the  distance  unnoticed.  Then 
an  outstanding  picket  fired.  The  bullet  came  near  doing 
its  work.  It  cut  the  skin  on  the  lower  side  of  each  arm 
and  scorched  the  skin  across  his  breast.  He  staggered  a 
moment,  then  ran  on  with  his  load.  The  gun  cracked 


3i8  DON  DIEGO 

again;  but  on  account  of  the  increased  distance,  the  bul 
let  had  spent  its  force  before  reaching  its  victim.  On 
Don  Diego  ran.  Soon  the  allies  were  pursuing  him  in 
hot  haste;  but  before  they  could  overtake  him,  he  reached 
the  trail  in  safety.  A  skirmish  between  the  Jemez  and 
the  Spaniards  followed.  The  latter,  however,  not 
knowing  the  strength  of  the  enemy,  soon  retreated  to 
their  tents. 

"  Tell  me  where  you  have  been  and  what  has  hap 
pened  to  you,  my  dear  one,"  said  Don  Diego,  as  soon  as 
the  welcoming  home  was  over. 

"  Well,"  replied  Geetlu,  "  I  was  standing  on  the  edge 
of  the  mesa  when  the  big  rock  crushed  the  white-earth 
men  to  death.  Soon  afterwards  I  heard  a  crash.  Then 
I  felt  sick  and  began  to  fall.  When  I  came  to  my  senses, 
an  Indian  was  holding  my  head  in  his  lap.  As  soon  as 
he  saw  that  I  showed  signs  of  life,  he  ordered  me  taken 
to  his  headquarters.  It  was  Ojeda  himself.  He  had 
recognized  me,  and  when  I  regained  consciousness,  he 
called  me  by  my  own  name,  Geetlu,  saying:  'Now  I 
have  my  wife;  at  last  I  have  my  Geetlu,  and  I  defy  Don 
Diego  and  the  whole  world  to  take  her  from  me.'  This 
did  not  give  me  much  satisfaction.  Soon  the  man  came 
and  started  with  me.  Seeing  that  I  was  being  carried 
away  from  my  people,  I  slipped  off  my  panya  and 
one  moccasin  that  should  these  things  be  found  you  would 
know  that  I  was  still  alive  and  would  probably  know 
the  direction  in  which  I  had  been  taken.  Arriving  at 
the  camp  I  was  well  taken  care  of.  A  white  medicine 
man  dressed  my  wounds,  which  seemed  to  be  only 
scratches  and  bruises.  Then  I  was  given  something  to 
eat.  Throughout  my  stay,  everyone  was  good  to  me. 


DON  DIEGO  319 

The  white  general  seemed  to  take  a  great  liking  to  me; 
and,  through  an  interpreter,  he  even  told  me  that  on  the 
day  he  captured  the  village  he  would  make  me  officially 
the  wife  of  Ojeda.  To  this  I  answered  nothing.  But, 
oh,  I  hope  these  pale- faces  and  their  allies  will  never  get 
possession  of  our  home.  Don  Diego,  I  love  you  and  you 
only  can  I  love.  I  watched  for  an  opportunity  to  let 
you  know  that  I  was  alive  and  would  do  all  I  could  to 
make  my  escape.  The  opportunity  came  last  evening, 
as  you  know.  My  plans  to  escape  failed,  however. 
Ojeda  observed  me  signaling.  So  believing  that  I  was 
going  to  try  to  escape,  he  put  a  guard  over  me.  This 
man  you  killed  when  rescuing  me.  But,  my  dear,  I  am 
tired.  Let  me  sleep." 

On  account  of  his  successful  entering  of  the  allied 
camp,  Don  Diego  decided  to  make  a  sortie  yet  that  same 
night.  Descending  the  trail  with  all  the  braves  he  could 
conveniently  marshal  at  short  notice  without  causing 
too  much  noise,  he  fell  upon  the  enemy  just  as  the  morn 
ing  star  began  to  rise.  As  they  moved  forward  to  the 
attack,  the  sentinel,  stationed  halfway  between  the  foot 
of  the  trail  and  the  general's  tent,  fired  the  alarm.  In 
the  direction  from  which  the  alarm  had  come  loud  yells 
at  once  arose.  The  pickets  at  the  foot  of  the  trail  had 
either  been  killed  or  captured,  and  the  Jemez  were  in 
the  act  of  rushing  upon  the  camp.  Immediately  the  can 
nons  were  brought  into  action,  but  the  fighting  was  soon 
at  quarters  too  close  for  them  to  be  effective.  The  bat 
tle  was  a  hand  to  hand  battle  from  the  onset;  and  can 
nons  could  not  be  turned  on  the  assailants  without  kill 
ing  those  assailed  as  well.  Every  rock,  tree,  and  bush 
had  a  red  man  behind  it.  The  crude  war  implements 


320  DON  DIEGO 

of  savages  clashed  with  the  war  implements  of  the  civ 
ilized  man.  Many  of  the  allies  were  killed  in  their  beds. 
The  camp  was  taken  and  burned.  Success  danced  in  the 
eye  of  the  Indian  and  gave  his  heart  a  quickened  beat. 
At  this  juncture  a  handful  of  cavalry  under  Eusebio  de 
Vargas  fell  upon  the  Jemez  from  the  rear.  These  men 
had  been  stationed  as  a  guard  over  the  grazing  horses 
and  had  not  been  in  the  fight  up  to  this  time.  Through 
the  crowded  mass  of  savages  they  rode,  hewing  them 
down  on  all  sides,  till  their  comrades  had  time  to  rally. 
For  a  few  minutes  then  the  Spaniards  were  flushed  with 
success.  The  camp  was  cleared.  The  cannons  that  had 
been  captured  in  the  first  onslaught  were  retaken  and 
put  into  deadly  action.  The  attacking  Indians,  bewil 
dered  and  dismayed,  were  finally  routed  and  began  to 
retreat.  But  on  reaching  the  trail  they  found  that  a 
detachment  of  the  allies  under  Vargas  himself  had  gained 
possession  of  it.  Their  escape  by  it  was  cut  off,  for  they 
were  unable  to  dislodge  the  possessors.  Turning  about 
they  again  fell  upon  the  main  body  of  the  enemy.  If 
they  had  to  die  they  would  die  as  braves.  The  enemy 
closed  in  on  them  on  all  sides.  Their  annihilation  seemed 
certain.  Only  a  few  minutes  more  and  grim  visaged  war 
would  accomplish  its  work  completely. 

Just  as  the  terrible  slaughter  was  progressing,  the 
Jemez  war  whoop  was  heard  in  the  rear  of  the  Spanish 
lines.  In  a  moment  the  battle  was  on  in  another  quarter. 
After  leading  the  first  division  to  the  attack,  Don  Diego 
had  returned  to  the  village,  called  another  division  of 
warriors  and  with  it  had  descended  the  trail  leading 
northeast  from  the  village  and  had  gained  his  fighting 


DON  DIEGO  321 

position  by  a  march  down  San  Diego  Canon.  His  de 
lay,  due  to  the  difficulty  in  rebuilding  the  destroyed  trail, 
had  spoiled  his  plans.  But  notwithstanding  that,  both 
he  and  his  men  were  eager  to  join  battle.  The  gods 
had  commanded  them  to  fight  and  fight  they  would. 
Furiously  they  fell  upon  the  allied  foe.  They  crippled 
the  horses.  They  dragged  the  cavaliers  from  their  sad 
dles.  They  killed  the  cannoneers  at  their  posts.  They 
routed  Ojeda  and  the  Queres  under  him.  They  wholly 
destroyed  the  enemy's  right  wing.  They  released  their 
surrounded  comrades.  They  cleared  the  trail.  Then 
the  tide  of  battle  turned.  The  Spanish  left  wing  and 
center  closed  in  on  the  Jemez  and  Eusebio  de  Vargas, 
assuming  the  command  for  a  time,  massed  the  cannons 
so  as  to  bear  directly  on  them.  The  swordsmen  cut 
them  down  on  every  side ;  the  muskets  played  havoc  with 
their  lines ;  the  field  pieces  mowed  them  down  by  scores. 
The  more  efficient  weapons  triumphed  and  the  Jemez 
sullenly  scrambled  up  the  trail  to  the  village  where  the 
allies  dare  not  yet  follow. 

As  soon  as  the  braves  reached  the  village  after  the  de 
feat,  they  began  to  inflict  punishment  upon  themselves 
with  knives  and  awls  to  appease  the  wrath  of  the  gods. 
The  women  rushed  about  the  place  as  mad.  They  tore 
their  scanty  clothes  from  their  bodies,  pulled  their  hair 
out,  beat  themselves  with  sticks  and  rocks,  pricked  them 
selves  with  cactus  and  cut  their  flesh  with  broken  pieces 
of  pottery  for  the  dead  just  killed  in  battle.  The  med 
icine  men  and  the  professional  mourners  instituted  the 
ceremonies  of  the  dead  with  their  accompanying  wail 
ing  and  howling.  And  the  sun  priests  retired  to  the 


322  DON  DIEGO 

estufas  to  pray  and  fast  before  the  gods  and  to  consult 
them  why  the  warriors  had  been  so  overwhelmingly  de 
feated. 

While  the  sortie  was  being  brought  to  its  disastrous 
end,  the  fourth  day  of  the  ceremonies  over  the  dead  that 
had  fallen  in  battle  at  the  taking  of  Zia  had  dawned. 
That  afternoon  the  men,  annually  appointed  for  the  pur 
pose,  went  from  house  to  house  of  the  deceased,  oblit 
erated  the  sun  drawings  encircling  the  effigies  of  the 
dead,  carried  the  effigies,  baskets  of  eatables,  water  jars, 
and  everything  that  pertained  to  the  departed  to  the  edge 
of  the  mesa  on  the  side  of  the  declining  sun  and  hurled 
them  to  the  valley  below.  Over  them  they  then  sprin 
kled  sacred  meal  for  a  moment.  This  completed  the 
ceremonies.  The  journeying  souls  had  reached  the  land 
of  bliss.  The  ceremonies  for  the  dead,  killed  at  Canon 
and  in  front  of  Jemez,  were  to  terminate  in  the  same  man 
ner  later. 

That  evening  the  chief  sun  priest  and  his  aids  entered 
the  plaza  from  the  sun  houses  and  in  sonorous  tones  or 
dered  the  medicine  men,  the  "  funny  men  "  and  the  men 
of  the  Column  Plaza  Dancing  Society  to  go  to  the  cen 
tal  estufa  at  once. 

Soon  all  were  within  the  house  of  the  gods  as  ordered. 
All  squatted  in  groups  facing  the  north,  except  the  sun 
priest  who  occupied  the  position  against  the  north  wall 
between  the  two  rainbow  symbols,  with  face  turned 
toward  the  south.  The  first  group  immediately  in  front 
of  the  priest  was  the  chief  penitents,  the  next  group  the 
"  funny  men,"  and  the  last  group  the  column  dancers. 
For  some  time  after  all  had  assembled,  they  sat  in  breath 
less  silence,  as  is  the  custom  in  an  Indian  council  meet- 


DON  DIEGO  323 

ing.  Then  the  chief  man  of  ceremonies  arose,  prayed 
long,  loud,  and  earnestly  to  the  gods  and  scattered  yellow 
pollen  and  meal  over  all  within  the  house.  Finishing 
his  praying  and  sprinkling,  he  turned  to  his  visible  au 
ditors  and  said : 

"  A  dire  calamity  has  befallen  our  tribe.  We  have 
sinned  a  great  sin  against  the  gods,  and  for  it  they  have 
taken  vengeance  on  us.  Our  evil  doings  are  the  cause 
of  our  misfortunes.  Someone  has  turned  witch,  and 
used  owl  feathers  and  caused  black  corn  to  answer  their 
questions.  Practice  of  this  sort  always  brings  destruc 
tion  to  the  tribe.  Drouth,  pestilence,  and  defeat  in  war 
are  always  caused  by  it.  The  gods  always  are  angered 
on  account  of  it  and  always  punish  the  tribe  that  tolerates 
it.  Only  the  conviction  and  execution  of  the  perpetra 
tors  will  pacify  them. 

"  When  I  was  a  little  boy  the  whole  tribe  sickened  in 
one  day  and  many  died.  The  medicine  men  did  all  they 
could  to  drive  the  '  sick  '  away.  They  prayed  and  sprin 
kled  sacred  meal  over  the  sick  ones  and  mortified  them 
selves  in  every  way,  but  the  dying  of  our  people  still  con 
tinued  to  increase.  The  gods  were  consulted  and  it  was 
decided  that  some  witch  was  the  cause  of  the  great  mor 
tality.  The  priests  and  medicine  men  searched  the 
houses  of  the  village  and  in  two  of  them  they  found  owl 
feathers  tied  up  in  a  bundle  with  black  corn.  They  put 
to  death  the  offenders.  At  once  the  dying  of  the  people 
from  the  disease  ceased. 

"  The  year  after  I  became  chief  sun  priest,  from  the 
coming  of  the  leaves  till  the  corn  was  in  tassel,  it  did 
not  rain  neither  in  the  valley  nor  on  the  mountains  which 
furnish  water  to  our  river.  For  days  and  days  the 


324  DON  DIEGO 

'  funny  men  '  prayed  and  did  penance,  but  it  was  of  no 
use.  The  rain  came  not.  The  corn  planted  was  about 
to  be  wholly  destroyed.  That  some  evil  doer  in  the  tribe 
was  the  cause  of  the  drouth  became  the  opinion  of  the 
chief  men.  Owl  feathers  were  found  in  one  house,  and 
the  possessor,  a  haggard  old  woman,  was  executed. 
That  very  day  it  rained  till  the  river  was  so  filled  with 
water  that  its  roar  could  be  heard  for  miles. 

"  Two  years  ago,  as  you  all  know,  our  army  was  de 
feated  by  the  Navajos,  and  the  victors  marched  to  take 
this  place.  Severe  fighting  occurred  in  the  valley  near 
here  for  many  days  in  which  our  braves  were  worsted  all 
the  time.  In  the  estufa  we  prayed  continually,  but  not  a 
prayer  was  answered.  I  called  the  '  principals  '  together, 
and  we  made  search  for  the  one  among  us  who  was  de 
feating  our  \varriors  by  his  witchcraft.  This  time  I  my 
self  found  black  corn  wrapped  up  with  owl  feathers, 
buried  beneath  the  hearth  in  one  of  the  houses.  The  ex 
ecution  of  the  sorcerer  brought  success  to  our  arms. 
The  next  day  our  enemies  were  routed  and  driven  from 
this  valley. 

"  As  in  the  cases  mentioned,  some  witch  is  the  cause 
of  our  present  calamity.  In  the  name  of  those  above, 
if  you  know  of  anyone  who  has  owl  feathers  in  his 
possession  or  who  talks  to  black  corn,  do  your  duty 
and  accuse  him  before  this  assembly  that  he  may  receive 
his  just  punishment  that  the  wrath  of  the  deities  against 
this  place  may  be  appeased.  Speak  what  you  know,  that 
the  Great  Spirit  may  hear  and  reward  you.  Speak  that 
our  homes,  our  tribe,  and  our  religion  may  be  saved  from 
annihilation."  Thus  saying,  he  seated  himself  and 
waited  for  the  others  to  speak. 


DON  DIEGO  325 

A  dismal  and  awful  stillness  ensued  for  some  min 
utes.  The  old  chief  of  the  sun  worshiping  then  arose 
again  and  said :  "  Will  you  not  speak  when  the 
gods  command  you?  I  will  call  upon  you  in  the 
order  of  your  positions  beginning  with  those  nearest 
me." 

He  had  called  upon  half  of  those  present  before  he  re 
ceived  anything  but  a  negative  to  his  inquiries.  Then 
an  Indian  by  the  name  of  Dwashing  admitted  that  he 
knew  of  two  women  who  had  owl  feathers  and  made 
black  corn  talk. 

"  Who  are  they?  "  anxiously  broke  in  the  chief  priest, 
as  the  eyes  of  all  turned  eagerly  toward  the  one  who 
was  addressing  them. 

"  Lapieyah  and  Kinnewagga,"  bluntly  answered  Dwash 
ing.  He  continued.  "  I  saw  Kinnewagga  gather  the 
feathers  beneath  a  flowering  currant  bush  at  the  foot  of 
a  big  fir  tree  on  the  edge  of  the  Soda  Dam  on  the  side 
of  the  going  down  of  the  sun.  Afterwards,  I  saw  her 
and  Lapieyah  cause  the  black  corn  to  tell  them  things. 
This  was  in  their  house  just  before  the  spring  dance.  I 
also  saw  that  they  had  owl  feathers  along  with  the 
corn." 

"  Go  to  the  door,  Don  Diego,  and  prevent  anyone  from 
leaving  here,"  interruptingly  broke  in  the  priest.  Then 
turning  to  Dwashing,  he  said:  "  Proceed." 

Dwashing  continued :  "  I  also  saw  these  two  women 
use  prayer  sticks  feathered  with  owl  feathers.  They 
placed  two  in  each  of  the  petrified-wood  altars  on  the 
mesa.  It  was  the  day  before  the  battle  in  front  of  the 
Zia  mesa.  I  would  have  mentioned  it  sooner,  but  I 
was  captured  by  the  white-faced  men  the  next  morning 


326  DON  DIEGO 

and  only  escaped  from  them  this  morning.  Here  are 
the  prayer  sticks,"  handing  them  to  the  priest. 

"Is  that  all?" 

"  Yes." 

"  Very  well,  I  will  question  the  others  present." 

One  by  one  he  called  upon  the  remaining  representa 
tives  of  the  tribe  till  he  had  interrogated  each  one  pres 
ent,  receiving  in  each  case  a  negative  answer.  He  then 
stood  upright  with  his  back  against  the  center  post  along 
the  north  wall,  prayed  a  half  audible  prayer  a  moment 
and  sprinkled  the  sacred  meal  toward  the  symbols  of  the 
gods.  Finishing  his  prayer,  he  said :  "  It  is  well.  The 
will  of  the  gods  be  done."  Then  turning  toward  the  en 
trance  to  the  edifice  he  gave  the  following  command: 
"  Don  Diego,  you  and  twelve  braves  go  and  search  the 
house  of  Kinnewagga  and  Lapieyah  and  bring  the  sor 
ceresses  here  as  quickly  as  possible.  We  will  await  your 
return." 

Cautiously  Don  Diego  proceeded  to  the  house  of  the 
suspects,  crawled  up  to  it  and  peeped  in  through  the  cir 
cular  porthole-like  window.  There  was  a  light  in  the 
room.  The  women  were  busy  at  something  near  the  low 
fire  which  furnished  the  light.  They  were  taking  corn 
and  owl  feathers  from  their  hiding  place  beneath  the 
hearth.  After  Kinnewagga  had  collected  the  corn  and 
feathers  in  her  lap,  she  sprinkled  them  with  the  pollen  of 
the  cat-tail-flag  and  began  to  pray  to  them :  "  O  instru 
ment  of  the  black  art,  O  gods  of  the  world  of  fogs  and 
storms,  O  gods  of  all  that  is  evil,  hear  me  and  answer 
my  prayer.  Before  to-morrow's  sun  shall  rise,  smite 
Don  Diego  — " 

A  stir  without  cut  the  prayer  short.     Don  Diego  and 


DON  DIEGO  327 

his  men  all  heard  the  prayer  and  had  seen  the  black  corn 
and  owl  feathers.  There  was  a  scramble  up  the  ladder 
and  in  a  minute  thirteen  men  stood  in  the  living-room 
of  the  house.  The  women  were  there,  but  the  feathers 
and  the  corn  were  no  where  to  be  seen.  The  room  was 
searched,  but  they  could  not  be  found.  Had  they  burned 
them?  An  examination  of  the  ashes  showed  that  they 
had  not.  The  floor  and  walls  were  then  pounded  to  see 
if  the  evil  things  had  been  concealed  there,  but  with  no 
better  success.  An  accidental  glance  at  Kinnewagga, 
however,  revealed  the  feathers.  She  had  them  concealed 
in  her  bosom,  and  one  of  the  feathers  was  not  completely 
within  the  folds  of  her  black  dress. 

The  women  were  immediately  seized  and  dragged  be 
fore  the  assembly.  They  had  been  caught  in  the  act  of 
holding  communication  with  the  evil  ones.  Consequently 
no  mercy  was  shown  them.  They  were  convicted  by  the 
"  principals "  and  taken  at  once  from  the  estufa  and 
stoned  to  death. 

While  Jemez  was  thus  engaged  in  convicting  and  ex 
ecuting  its  witches,  things  were  fast  approaching  a  crisis 
in  the  Spanish  camp.  The  last  morsel  of  food  had  been 
eaten  and  the  ammunition  had  got  so  low  that  but  few  of 
the  cavaliers  had  more  than  powder  and  ball  enough 
to  shoot  ten  times;  while  the  Jemez  seemed  to  be  able 
to  hold  out  indefinitely.  A  scout  had  also  brought  the 
news  that  the  Tehuas  were  marching  over  the  mountains 
from  San  Ildefonso  to  relieve  the  place.  To  such 
straits  were  they  reduced  that,  at  dusk,  Senores  Otero 
and  Baca  went  to  the  general  and,  on  their  knees,  begged 
him  to  abandon  the  siege.  But  fearing  the  disgrace  and 
the  loss  of  prestige  which  would  inevitably  follow,  he 


328  DON  DIEGO 

would  not  yield  to  them.  "  This  place  must  be  captured," 
was  his  firm  and  only  reply. 

Later  in  the  evening  the  same  two  aids  came  to  him 
again  and  besought  him  in  the  name  of  the  Virgin  Mary 
to  abandon  the  place.  Said  they :  "  We  have  no  food 
at  hand;  we  are  weakened  in  numbers;  and  our  powder 
and  ball  is  almost  gone.  If  we  stay  here  the  combined 
savage  hordes  will  fall  upon  us  and  kill  us  all.  We  be 
seech  you,  leave  this  place  while  it  is  yet  possible  to  do 
so.  Before  to-morrow  morning  we  are  likely  to  be  all 
massacred.  A  union  of  the  allied  hostile  forces  means 
disaster  to  us.  Let  us  get  as  far  from  this  place  as  we 
can  under  cover  of  the  darkness." 

"  It  would  be  a  disgrace  to  ourselves,  to  our  king  and 
to  our  religion  to  retreat  from  this  place,"  Governor 
Vargas  angrily  responded.  "  No,"  he  continued,  "  we 
will  capture  this  place  and  take  these  barbarians  with  us 
as  slaves  when  we  go." 

"  The  Jemez  are  now  signaling  those  who  are  scaling 
yonder  mountains  to  succor  them,"  interrupted  Senor 
Otero.  "If  you  will  not  go  with  us  we  will  go  without 
you." 

"  Neither  you  nor  any  of  the  cavaliers  shall  leave  this 
place  without  my  permission,"  defiantly  retorted  the  offi 
cer  as  he  laid  his  hand  on  his  sword.  "  This  night  we 
will  take  this  place.  I  have  wanted  a  cloudy  night  to 
screen  our  movements  and  to-night  we  have  it.  This 
fog  makes  it  pitch  dark  here  in  the  valley.  Now  to 
carry  out  my  plans  is  all  that  is  needed.  Take  a  division 
of  men  and  move  all  the  cannons  to  a  location  south  of 
the  mesa  as  near  to  it  as  possible.  Then  as  soon  as  you 
have  all  of  them  in  position  commence  firing  them  toward 


DON  DIEGO  329 

the  mesa  and  keep  firing  them  till  I  command  you  to 
stop.  Yell  and  make  as  much  noise  as  you  can,  also. 
Do  everything  you  can  to  draw  the  besieged  to  that  side. 
At  the  proper  moment  my  brother  Eusebio  will  capture 
the  trail  with  the  remaining  troops.  To-night  the  village 
is  ours." 

While  the  above  orders  were  being  given,  the  sor 
ceresses  were  being  put  to  death  in  the  village.  The 
bloody  work  having  been  completed,  the  drum  again 
sounded  the  call  to  arms,  and  the  weird  preparation  for 
battle  was  begun.  Aid  was  coming;  and,  jointly,  they 
would  surprise  the  camp  of  the  Queres  and  Spaniards  at 
dawn.  But  the  plans  of  the  war  chief  were  not  given 
time  to  mature.  Before  the  warriors  were  half  painted, 
the  boom,  boom  of  the  cannons  and  the  terrible  yelling 
and  hallooing  to  the  south  of  the  village  in  near  proximity 
to  the  mesa  wall  caused  consternation  throughout  the 
whole  pueblo.  Though  the  mesa  walls  are  hundreds  of 
feet  in  perpendicular  height  on  that  side,  the  Jemez,  not 
knowing  what  the  white  man  was  capable  of  doing  and 
expecting  that  he  might  be  able  to  accomplish  most  any 
thing,  rushed  thither  to  repel  the  feigned  assault.  This 
was  what  Vargas  wanted.  In  the  excitement  the  guards 
abandoned  the  trail,  and  Eiusebio  and  his  armored  men 
rushed  it  and  captured  the  village. 

A  horrible  scene  followed.  Unarmored  and  taken 
by  surprise,  the  braves  were  mercilessly  butchered  by  the 
invaders.  The  populace  became  panic-stricken  and  for 
the  most  part,  rushed  from  the  pueblo  to  the  edge  of  the 
mesa  where  they  leaped,  a  few  to  escape  to  the  Navajo 
country,  but  the  greater  number  to  instant  death.  Of 
those  who  remained  in  the  village,  the  sword  claimed 


330  DON  DIEGO 

many.  Seventy  braves  were  killed  and  three  hundred 
and  seventy-one  were  taken  prisoners.  The  village  was 
sacked  and  burned,  and  three  hundred  fanegas  of  corn 
were  captured.  This  was  July  24,  1694  (some  writers 
give  1693). 

Consternation  filled  the  hearts  of  all  the  prisoners. 
Other  rebels  had  been  shot  or  burned.  Would  that  be 
their  fate?  Huddled  together  at  Canon  and  guarded  by 
their  Indian  enemies,  they  were  most  miserable.  Don 
Diego  had  been  captured  and  was  confined  with  his  com 
rades  awaiting  the  pleasure  of  the  commanding  officer. 
His  wife  had  been  bound  by  Ojeda  and  carried  to  Santa 
Anna.  Of  all  the  Indians  he  was  the  one  most  miserable. 
The  others  might  be  freed,  but  his  fate  was  sealed.  A 
thought  suddenly  entered  his  mind.  "  I  am  doomed,  but 
possibly  I  can  save  my  comrades."  A  group  of  the 
Jemez  had  gathered  close  around  him.  He  lifted  his 
head  from  the  drooped  position  it  had  had  since  the  de 
struction  of  his  home  and  looked  them  all  in  the  face. 
"  My  brothers,"  he  began  to  say  to  them,  "  I  have  done 
all  I  could  to  save  our  home,  as  you  all  have,  but  the 
gods  are  against  us.  Now  the  only  thing  left  is  to  save 
ourselves  if  we  can.  My  brothers,"  he  repeated  after  a 
moment's  pause,  "  go  and  tell  the  white  chief  that  I  have 
been  the  cause  of  all  this  trouble,  peradventure  he  will 
spare  you  your  lives." 

It  took  considerable  argument  to  get  the  braves  to  ac 
cede  to  such  a  thing.  Finally,  however,  as  a  last  re 
sort,  a  delegation  called  upon  Governor  Vargas  and  ex 
plained  the  cause  of  the  resistance  of  the  Jemez  to  the 
Spanish  rule,  as  had  been  planned.  They  made  their 
statements  so  plausible,  that  Vargas  agreed  to  free  all  the 


DON  DIEGO  331 

braves  in  time,  on  the  following  conditions:  (i)  that 
they  would  immediately  bring  chief  Don  Diego  to  his 
tent  bound  for  execution:  (2)  that  they  would  promise 
to  build  a  new  village  on  the  old  site  in  the  valley;  (3) 
that  they  would  aid  in  the  wars  when  needed,  he  to  keep 
their  women  and  children  as  hostages  till  after  the  cap 
ture  of  San  Ildefonso. 

Don  Diego  was  immediately  brought  before  the  gen 
eral  and  condemned  to  be  shot.  As  soon  as  sentenced, 
he  was  taken  a  short  distance  from  the  tent  and  made  to 
stand,  while  the  musketeers  prepared  their  guns  for  the 
final  act.  All  leveled  their  guns  over  the  respective 
"  rests  "  and  with  burning  fuse  in  hand  waited  the  fatal 
signal  from  Vargas.  Just  at  that  moment,  the  good 
padre  who  was  accompanying  the  army  rushed  up  to  the 
general  and  on  his  knees  begged  him  in  the  name  of  the 
Holy  Mary  to  spare  the  life  of  the  man  who  dared  de 
fend  his  home.  At  this  moment  the  Indians  also  mur 
mured  against  the  execution  of  their  chief.  So  the  sen 
tence  was  changed  to  ten  years  as  a  slave  in  the  mines 
of  Nueva  Vizcaya.  That  day  he  was  started  on  the  long 
journey  to  that  penal  region  of  old  Mexico. 

The  next  day  Governor  Vargas  recovered  the  remains 
of  the  martyred  padre,  Juan  De  Jesus,  and  on  the  fol 
lowing  day  set  out  on  the  return  to  Santa  Fe.  Arriving 
there,  he  buried  the  martyr  with  appropriate  ceremonies, 
August  u,  as  had  been  the  good  priest's  dying  request.* 

*  The  above  account  of  the  capture  of  Jemez  is  based  on  the 
the  Indian  and  Mexican  folklore  stories  of  the  region.  Below  is 
an  abridged  account  of  the  capture  of  this  village  after  Ban 
croft's  History,  Volume  on  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  pages  210  to 
211 : 

On  July  21,  1694,  with  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  Governor 
Vargas  joined  the  Queres  under  Ojeda  of  Santa  Anna  in  an  attack 


332  DON  DIEGO 

But  the  war  went  on.  September  4th,  Governor  Var 
gas,  aided  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  Queres  and  Jemez, 
assaulted  San  Ildefonso,  but  was  defeated,  leaving  eleven 
Spaniards  dead  on  the  field.  Again  on  October  5th,  the 
allies  attacked  the  place,  marched  up  the  slope  to  the 
very  village,  but  were  put  to  flight.  Vargas  then  cut  off 
the  supplies  of  the  pueblo,  destroyed  the  cornfields,  and 
allowed  the  allies  to  dance  the  scalp  dance  over  a  fallen 
Tehua  right  in  the  open  in  sight  of  the  besieged.  Several 
times  the  Tehuas  descended  and  engaged  in  a  desperate 
conflict,  but  each  time  were  repulsed.  At  last,  on  the 

on  Jemez  on  the  mesa  at  the  forks  of  the  river  [the  Mesa  Don 
Diego  of  the  Spanish  records].  While  en  route  the  Zia  Mesa 
[the  Mesa  Colorado  of  the  Spanish  records]  was  taken  [a  part 
of  the  Zias,  however,  were  with  the  Santa  Annas  under  Ojeda  —  a 
part  of  the  Zias  had  rebuilt  their  old  village  and  moved  to  it, 
these  were  with  Ojeda.]  In  taking  Zia  five  men  were  killed. 
[Some  records  say  it  was  the  Jemez  who  attacked  Mesa  Colorado 
and  that  they  were  defeated.]  Then  on  July  24  Vargas,  with  the 
Santa  Anna  and  Zia  allies,  took  the  Jemez  Mesa  by  storm,  ac 
cording  to  the  Archives  at  Santa  Fe.  The  battle  was  one  of  the 
fiercest  fought.  The  Zias  and  Santa  Annas  did  much  in  securing 
the  place.  Here  Don  Eusebio  de  Vargas,  brother  of  the  Governor, 
distinguished  himself.  The  Jemez  lost  eighty-one  killed,  three 
hundred  and  seventy-one  prisoners;  the  village  was  sacked  and 
burned;  three  hundred  fanegas  of  corn  was  captured.  The  Jemez 
Governor,  Chief  Diego  was  surrendered;  first  condemned  to  be 
shot ;  then,  upon  the  intercession  of  the  padre  who  was  accompany 
ing  the  army,  he  was  sent  as  a  convict  to  the  mines  of  Nueva 
Vizcaya :  the  Indians  surrendered  him,  it  is  stated,  saying  that  he 
had  been  the  cause  of  the  trouble.  The  prisoners,  in  part,  were 
allowed  to  go  back  to  Jemez  and  build  on  the  old  site,  if  they  would 
promise  to  aid  in  the  wars  when  needed.  [Their  wives  and  chil 
dren,  however,  were  not  given  back  to  them  till  after  the  capture  of 
San  Ildefonso,  September  13,  1694.] 

After  the  capture  of  Jemez  Governor  Vargas  recovered  the  mor 
tal  remains  of  the  martyred  padre,  Juan  de  Jesus,  and  on  August 
nth  following  he  interred  them  at  Santa  Fe. 


DON  DIEGO  333 

8th,  the  besieged  sued  for  peace.  Peace  and  pardon  was 
granted  them  on  condition  that  they  would  return  to 
their  respective  pueblos. 

After  this  battle  and  the  surrender  of  the  Tehuas,  the 
Jemez,  having  aided  the  Spaniards,  were  given  back  their 
women  and  children,  the  Jemez  missionary  interceding 
for  them.  This  was  September  I3th,  1694. 

But  the  Pueblos  seemed  to  be  practically  unconquer 
able.  No  sooner  would  the  Spanish  army  leave  one  lo 
cality  than  an  uprising  would  there  occur. 

A  famine  having  occurred  and  the  padres  and  soldiers 
having  been  redistributed  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of 
food,  the  Jemez,  Taos,  Picuries,  Tehuas,  Queres  of  Co- 
chiti,  and  Santo  Domingo  rose  in  arms  and  killed  five 
priests  and  twenty-one  Spaniards,  June  4th,  1696.  The 
Zias,  Pecos,  Tesque,  San  Felipe,  Santa  Anna  remained 
faithful  to  the  Spaniards. 

As  a  result  of  the  uprising,  Vargas  marched  to  Zia 
the  first  of  August  to  attack  the  Jemez,  but  abandoned 
the  expedition  without  going  farther,  saying  that  he  had 
to  distribute  some  two  hundred  head  of  cattle  that  had 
just  arrived  at  Santa  Fe.  August  5th,  following,  he 
made  an  unsuccessful  assault  on  Acoma,  captured  five 
Indians,  one  a  chief.  The  latter  he  freed,  begging  him 
to  persuade  the  people  to  surrender,  but  they  would  not 
do  so.  He  then  shot  the  other  captives,  ravaged  the 
fields,  and  returned.  Returning  home  he  then  sent  Ad 
jutant  Juan  Ruiz  against  Jemez,  but  the  expedition  seems 
to  have  been  unsuccessful. 

Later  that  same  fall,  the  governor  in  person  attacked 
the  Taos  in  a  canon  not  far  from  their  village.  After  a 
few  skirmishes  the  Indians  surrendered.  Thence  he 


334  DON  DIEGO 

marched  against  the  other  northern  Pueblos.  The  Pic- 
uries  and  Tehuas  feigned  peace  to  save  their  cornfields. 
Vargas  discovered  their  plans  and  attacked  them  October 
26th,  capturing  eighty-four  women  and  children,  who 
became  slaves  of  the  Spaniards  at  Santa  Fe.  Rather 
than  submit,  most  of  the  other  Pueblos  fled  to  the  moun 
tains,  where  over  two  thousand  perished  and  as  many 
more  joined  the  wild  tribes. 

Returning  home  after  this  expedition,  Vargas  found 
that  he  himself  was  in  trouble.  Many  charges  had  been 
made  against  him  at  the  court  of  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico. 
After  considerable  parleying,  Pedro  Rodriguez  Cubero 
succeeded  to  the  governorship,  and  Vargas  was  sent  to 
Mexico  in  chains  and  later,  it  is  said,  to  Spain.  At 
any  rate,  he  carried  his  case  to  the  King  of  Spain  and 
finally  proved  his  innocence  of  all  the  charges,  becoming 
governor  again  in  August,  1703. 

As  soon  as  he  became  the  official  head  of  the  northern 
province  again,  he  found  the  Indians  as  hostile  as  ever; 
they  had  not  been  subdued  by  his  successor.  As  soon  as 
arrangements  could  be  made,  he  set  out  to  attack  the 
Apaches  on  the  San  Dia  Mountains,  who  were  making 
raids  on  the  settlements  along  the  Rio  Grancle.  Becom 
ing  sick  en  route,  he  died  at  Bernalillo,  April  4th,  1704. 

His  successor  proceeded  with  the  task  of  bringing  the 
whole  country  under  subjugation.  As  would  be  expected, 
he  soon  found  himself  face  to  face  with  the  unyielding 
Jemez.  This  was  in  1705.  The  Jemez  aided  by  the 
Apaches  had  returned  to  Mesa  Don  Diego  and  re- forti 
fied  it.  Then  they  were  in  the  valley  at  Canon  ready  to 
rush  upon  the  approaching  enemy.  The  battles  of  Zia 
and  Jemez  were  to  be  fought  over  again.  The  slaughter 


DON  DIEGO  335 

of  those  terrible  times  was  to  be  repeated.  The  Span 
ish  general  gave  the  order  to  charge.  The  war  whoop 
resounded.  But  the  slaying  hand  of  the  destroying 
angel  was  stayed. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

DON  DIEGO,  with  halter  around  his  neck,  was  led 
by  a  man  on  horseback  down  the  Jemez  valley  past 
the  present  village  of  Zia  and  now  Old  Village  of  Santa 
Anna.  As  he  was  being  jerked  through  the  latter  village, 
he  heard  a  voice  he  knew.  Just  faintly  he  heard  it.  It 
was  Geetlu's  voice.  She  was  saying,  "  May  the  gods  take 
care  of  you,  Don  Diego"  [Te-wa^pah-oo,  Don  Diego]. 
He  turned  to  look  in  the  direction  the  voice  had  come, 
but  was  jerked  onward  and  saw  no  more. 

On  they  journeyed.  At  last  they  reached  the  mines  of 
Nueva  Vizcaya,  and  Don  Diego  entered  upon  his  toils  as 
a  prisoner-slave.  As  such  he  was  biddable  and  did  his 
work  well  and  faithfully.  Furthermore,  the  good  padre 
interceding  for  his  life  before  the  Spanish  Governor  had 
had  its  effect  upon  his  character.  The  good  father  had 
given  him  some  prayer  beads  before  his  departure  to  the 
penal  settlement  and  these  he  prized  very  highly;  and 
when  not  occupied  in  his  duties  as  a  slave,  he  sat  and 
"  counted  them  "  by  the  hour.  The  guards  noticed  this, 
but  it  was  their  business  to  grind  as  much  labor  out  of  a 
convict  as  possible.  Consequently  they  did  not  even  at 
tempt  to  explain  the  meaning  of  the  beads  to  the  poor 
savage.  Days,  weeks,  months  came  and  went.  Finally 
Don  Diego  asked  what  day  would  be  Sunday ;  the  prison 
ers  worked  every  day,  Sundays,  feast  days,  and  all.  He 
was  told  that  it  would  be  in  three  more  days.  "  My 

336 


DON  DIEGO  337 

brother,"  he  then  said,  "  may  I  not  go  to  your  church 
on  that  day  ?  "  The  keepers  laughed  sneeringly  and  said 
nothing. 

Finally  one  day,  luckily,  the  padre  of  this  penal  district 
made  a  visiting  tour  through  the  mines.  Don  Diego  was 
working  on  what  is  commonly  called  "  the  dump "  in 
mining  regions.  As  the  priest  approached  him,  he 
stopped  his  work  and  making  the  cross  bowed  to  him, 
calling  him  father.  This  called  the  priest's  attention  to 
the  prisoner.  He  stepped  aside  and  addressed  him 
kindly.  In  response  Don  Diego  stepped  forward  and 
kissed  his  hand.  Then  the  priest  passed  on  and  the 
prisoner  resumed  his  work. 

After  the  day's  labor  was  completed  and  Don  Diego 
had  lain  down  to  rest  a  few  minutes  as  he  "  counted  his 
beads,"  the  beads  of  the  white  God  as  he  termed  them,  he 
was  not  a  little  surprised  when  one  of  the  guards  ap 
peared  at  the  entrance  of  his  thatched  hovel  and  told  him 
the  padre  wished  him  to  go  to  his  house  as  he  wished  to 
talk  to  him. 

He  arose  quickly  and  dragging  and  carrying  his  chains, 
finally  reached  the  flat- roofed  mansion.  There  he  was 
caused  to  squat  himself  on  the  floor  of  a  well  furnished 
room,  where  he  had  to  wait  a  considerable  time  for  the 
arrival  of  the  priest;  he  was  occupied  at  some  other  of 
ficial  business  at  the  time.  At  last  that  person  entered 
the  room  and  in  a  short  time  the  prisoner  was  at  confes 
sion.  The  padre  listened  attentively  to  the  story  of  his 
life  and  especially  his  final  declaration,  that  he  had  done 
what  he  thought  was  right  and  that,  if  it  was  wrong,  he 
did  not  know  it.  He  had  defended  his  home  to  the  last. 
Now  he  was  willing  to  serve  the  white  man's  God,  as  it 


338  DON  DIEGO 

was  stronger  than  the  Indian  gods;  and  that  he  wished 
to  attend  mass  and  learn  more  about  the  white  man's 
religion. 

After  being  at  confession,  Don  Diego  was  returned  to 
the  hovel  and  the  next  day  went  to  work  in  his  chains  as 
usual.  For  several  days  he  worked  again  as  before. 
Finally  one  morning  one  of  the  guards  appeared  at  his 
hovel  with  a  hammer  and  chisel.  Entering  he  remarked 
sarcastically :  "  It's  a  shame.  I  suppose  you  will  cause 
us  lots  of  trouble  for  this  and  likely  kill  somebody  and 
make  feed  for  the  wolves  yourself;  but  I  am  ordered  to 
release  these  shackles,  and  the  good  father  requests  you 
to  attend  mass.  To-day  is  Sunday.  I  suppose  it  will 
take  all  the  bloodhounds  we  have  to  find  you  by  to-mor 
row.  '  But  here  goes.' '  So  saying,  he  set  to  work  and 
soon  had  cut  the  iron  bands  that  clasped  each  leg,  and  the 
prisoner  was  free. 

The  happiest  man  at  mass  that  day  was  the  Jemez 
slave;  and  after  mass  when  he  had  returned  to  his 
thatched  hut,  he  sat  and  sang  the  hours  away.  The  next 
morning  he  was  at  his  post  of  duty  as  usual  and  even 
worked  better  than  before.  For  some  time,  however, 
the  guards  kept  close  watch  on  him  lest  he  should  run 
off;  but  were,  at  length,  convinced  that  he  had  no  such 
intentions.  So  then  they  made  him  a  trusty  about  the 
place.  Meanwhile  he  visited  the  priest  as  often  as  he 
could  and  had  him  explain  the  different  things  about  the 
white  man's  religion  and  the  goodness  of  God.  At  last 
the  priest  took  such  a  liking  to  him  that  he  had  him  trans 
ferred  from  the  mine  to  his  charge,  using  him  as  a  serv 
ant.  This  position  suited  Don  Diego  very  much  and  he 


DON  DIEGO  339 

worked  hard  to  retain  it.  But  even  better  things  were  in 
store  for  him.  The  priest  finally  made  him  one  of  the 
aids  in  the  church  service. 

At  last  he  had  served  out  his  sentence  and  with  the 
blessings  of  the  good  padre,  he  set  out  for  the  home  of 
his  people,  going  not  by  the  then  Spanish  route,  but  by 
the  Indian  route  northward,  somewhat  the  same  as  Co- 
ronado  had  gone. 

After  traveling  toward  the  North  Star  several  days,  he 
came  to  that  great  ruin  the  Casa  Grande  —  the  Red 
House  of  the  Indians  —  on  the  Gila.  Thence  he  entered 
the  broken  region  by  Globe,  with  its  blue,  gray,  red,  and 
black  rocks.  Then  onward  he  went  northward  over  the 
Apache  mountains  by  Chromo  (Haystack)  Butte  to  Salt 
River.  This  he  swam  near  where  Chief  Lupe's  camp 
is  now  situated.  From  there  he  passed  northeastward  a 
little  past  the  "  black  butte  "  and  over  the  granites  and 
schists  at  the  mouth  of  Canon  creek.  He  had  been  sev 
eral  days  in  the  Apache  country  and  as  he  could  talk  the 
language  of  the  natives  of  the  region  he  was  treated  as 
a  friend  and  guest  by  them.  There  was  an  Indian  en 
campment  then  near  the  mouth  of  the  creek  and  here 
he  rested  a  day.  While  here  he  took  a  canoe  and  went 
across  Salt  river  a  little  above  the  encampment  and  ex 
amined  the  salt  crystals  that  glisten  in  the  evening  sun 
where  the  saline  waters  seep  out  of  the  sandstone  and 
shales  of  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  walls  of  the  canon. 
The  next  day  with  a  guide,  he  set  out  on  his  further 
journey.  Their  course  was  northward  up  Canon  creek 
over  its  rough,  narrow,  inner  valley,  over  rocks  from 
Tertiary  to  Archseon  in  age,  over  rocks  as  hard  and 


340  DON  DIEGO 

brittle  as  glass  to  fine  blue  shale  and  loose  Tertiary  ma 
terial.  That  evening  they  reached  the  flat  now  known 
as  John  Dazen's  camp.  Here,  across  the  creek  from 
Mount  Chiddeschee,  they  rested  and  slept.  Morning 
came  and  they  now  resumed  their  journey,  now  northeast 
ward,  climbing  over  the  vitreous  Tonto  sandstone  and  the 
Devonian  shell-bed  areas  and  on  up  the  Plateau  walls 
to  the  flats  of  the  Grasshopper  Springs  country.  Night 
found  them  on  the  Cibicu  creek,  guests  of  the  chief  of 
the  tribe  that  occupied  the  valley.  A  feast  of  corn  was 
set  before  them.  After  the  meal,  a  deerskin  was  spread 
on  the  ground  and  Don  Diego,  being  tired,  soon  found 
himself  fast  asleep. 

Don  Diego  had  not  slept  long,  when  a  disturbing 
dream  awoke  him.  Rising  on  his  elbow,  he  listened  a 
moment ;  then  remarked  to  his  host :  "  What  means 
that  drum  beat  I  hear  ?  " 

"  Oh,"  replied  the  one  addressed,  "  a  medicine  dance 
is  in  session.  The  medicine  woman  of  our  tribe  is 
about  to  die ;  and  the  medicine  people  are  performing  the 
final  medicinal  ceremonies  over  her.  In  the  performance 
they  will  either  cure  her  or  prepare  her  to  meet  her  gods. 
We  are  all  going  to  it.  Would  you  like  to  go  with  us  ?  " 

Don  Diego  and  the  chief's  family  had  scarcely  joined 
the  group  of  squatting  people  encircling  the  great  fire, 
the  sick  one,  and  the  chanters,  when  the  medicine  ghost 
dancers  appeared  the  first  time  in  the  night  ceremonies; 
the  Gunelpieya  ceremonies  had  been  performed  the  after 
noon  previous.  The  ghost  dancers  entered  the  sick  one's 
presence  and,  acting  as  though  surprised,  they  danced 
backwards  and  forwards  for  several  yards  to  the  music 
of  the  chant: 


DON  DIEGO  341 

"  Kahs'-ah-tun'  nee  yah'  ash  kah' 
Kahs'-ah-tun'  nee  yah'  ash  kah' 
Kahs'-ah-tun'  nee  yah'  ash  kah' 
Kahs'-ah-tun'  nee  yah'  ash  kee'  yah'." 

Then  they  approached  again  only  to  make  a  retro 
grade  movement  as  before.  This  they  did  seven  times  in 
succession.  Then  they  approached  and  strutted  around 
the  little  spot  where  the  sick  woman  lay,  the  clown  go 
ing  through  every  grimace  known  to  his  fraternity. 
After  encircling  the  patient  once,  they  pranced  a  moment 
while  "  grandma  "  sprinkled  the  sacred  pollen  upon  them, 
blowing  her  breath  on  each  one  in  blessing  as  she  sprin 
kled  him.  This  completed  scene  one  of  this  act  and  the 
men  of  the  gods  cantered  off  into  the  darkness  to  go 
through  their  religious  incantations  to  overcome  "  sick." 

The  ghost  dancers  returned  and  formed  in  column 
facing  the  west,  the  sick  one  being  changed  so  that  she 
faced  them.  They  danced  up  to  her  feet  and  then  re 
trograded  in  a  backward  movement  to  the  spot  where 
they  had  first  formed  the  column,  gobbling  and  strutting 
and  waving  their  hands  in  imitation  of  a  flying  bird. 
This  they  repeated  several  times.  Then  the  foremost 
dancer,  as  he  made  pose  after  pose  imitating,  in  a  manner, 
the  actions  of  a  mother  quail  when  protecting  her  young, 
left  the  column  and  danced  to  the  feet  of  the  dying 
woman.  He  reached  her  presence,  strutted  around  her, 
laid  the  crossed  wands  on  her  —  he  carried  one  in  each 
hand,  blew  his  breath  on  them,  danced  backwards  about 
fifteen  feet  with  medicine  wands  still  crossed,  parted 
the  wands  with  a  sweeping  vigorous  movement  of  the 
hands  in  opposite  directions,  thus  sending  the  evil  spirits 


342  DON  DIEGO 

not  into  the  swine  but  to  the  four  winds.  He  returned 
to  the  patient,  placed  the  wands  on  her  breast,  then 
danced  backwards  and  scattered  the  evil  ones  as  before. 
He  then  placed  the  crossed  wands  upon  her  head,  and 
lastly  upon  her  back,  each  time  performing  as  above. 
His  work  being  completed,  he  galloped  off  into  obscurity 
to  appear  in  the  next  scene. 

The  other  medicine  dancers  in  succession  went  through 
practically  the  same  performance  as  the  first  dancer  did. 
Then  came  the  clown.  His  performance,  in  addition 
to  his  cutting  capers  and  making  grimaces,  was  about  the 
same  as  that  of  those  who  preceded  him,  except  that  he 
did  not  strut  and  gobble  like  a  turkey.  His  acting  com 
pleted  part  one  of  this  scene. 

There  were  three  other  parts  to  this  scene,  all  three  of 
which  were  acted  out  similarly  to  the  one  just  described 
with  the  exception  that  the  position  taken  by  the  actors 
was  different.  In  part  two  the  sick  one  faced  the  north 
east,  the  dancing  column  the  southwest ;  in  part  three  she 
faced  the  northwest,  the  column  the  southeast;  and  in 
part  four  she  faced  the  southwest,  the  dancing  column 
the  northeast.  Part  four  completed  this  scene  and  the 
medicine  actors  passed  into  the  outer  darkness. 

The  next  ten  scenes  were  similar  to  the  one  just  de 
scribed,  except  that  when  the  lookers-on  went  to  sleep 
the  Satanic  majesty,  the  clown,  woke  them  up  with  his 
trident  and  made  them  dance,  there  being  one  hundred 
and  fifty  sleepy  ones  dancing  at  one  time. 

Just  as  the  eleventh  scene  was  culminating,  the  sick 
woman  became  semi-conscious ;  she  had  been  unconscious 
throughout  the  whole  performance.  Raising  herself  to  a 
sitting  position,  she  began  to  address  those  around  her  not 


DON  DIEGO  343 

in  the  Apache  language  but  in  that  of  the  Jemez.  Hear 
ing  his  native  speech  used,  Don  Diego  intuitively  stepped 
quickly  forward  to  the  presence  of  the  patient;  and  —  lo! 
it  was  Geetlu.  As  he  approached,  she  opened  her  eyes 
and  looked  wildly  about  her.  "  Nio,"  she  exclaimed,  "  go 
away,  Death.  I  will  not  die.  I  must  not  die  till  I  see 
my  husband,  Don  Diego.  I  ran  away  from  that  cruel 
Ojeda  of  Santa  Anna  with  Bedessendaha  to  this  place 
and  to  my  friends.  That  was  long  ago.  No,  I  will  not 
die.  Give  me  back  my  husband.  He  is  coming  to  say 
a  last  farewell  to  me.  I  saw  him  in  a  vision.  He  is  com 
ing.  He  will  be  here  to-night.  No,  I  will  not  die  till 
I  see  him  and  tell  him  that  I  love  him  and  hate  Ojeda." 

He  took  her  in  his  arms  and  soothingly  addressed 
her :  "  I  am  your  husband.  I  am  Don  Diego.  I  am 
free  and  I  love  you.  My  dear  Geetlu,  I  love  you." 

Her  eyes  became  calmer.  She  looked  at  him.  She 
stroked  his  hair  with  her  hand.  She  breathed  on  her 
hand  and  rubbed  his  face  with  it.  Then  she  exclaimed: 
"  My  husband,  my  own  Don  Diego,  peace  to  you  and 
may  the  gods  take  care  of  you.  I  go  to  my  long  home. 
Good-by,  my  Don  Die — ." 

She  again  lapsed  into  unconsciousness.  This  was  just 
as  day  began  to  dawn.  Immediately  the  twelfth  and 
last  scene  of  the  night  performance  began.  The  med 
icine  dancers  appeared,  were  sprinkled  with  the  sacred 
cat-tail-flag  pollen,  and  began  to  perform  over  the  sick 
one  as  in  the  previous  scenes  with  the  exception  that  they 
used  medicine  hoops  instead  of  wands.  These  hoops 
were  five  in  number  and  were  painted  to  represent  the 
rainbow.  Besides  being  painted,  each  hoop  had  five 
eagle  feathers  suspended  from  it. 


344  DON  DIEGO 

When  this  scene  began  the  lookers-on  all  took  one  more 
drink  of  Indian  whisky  (they  had  been  drinking  it  all 
night),  formed  around  the  central  fire  in  a  great  circle, 
and  danced  around  it  from  right  to  left,  the  women  in 
one  half  of  the  circle,  the  men  in  the  other.  The  old 
women  danced  backward  and  forward  on  either  side 
of  the  fire  and  acted  out  clown-performances  within  the 
outer  dancing  circle;  and  the  members  of  the  medicine 
fraternity  sprinkled  the  sacred  dust  and  prayed  inces 
santly  to  the  gods.  More  and  more  vigorous  became  the 
dance.  Everyone  joined  it.  The  sound  of  the  peculiar 
drums,  now  beat  with  greater  accent,  the  loud  chanting 
and  deafening  shouts  of  the  dancers  filled  the  surround 
ing  country  with  ear-grating  sounds.  The  excitement 
reached  a  high  tension.  The  sick  one  became  semi-con 
scious  again.  She  made  one  supreme  effort  to  rise  and 
join  in  the  dance;  but  she  had  not  sufficient  strength. 
They  lifted  her  to  a  standing  position,  they  sprinkled 
her  with  the  sacred  dust,  they  rubbed  her  back  and  her 
chest  with  scorching  fir  twigs,  they  supported  her  in  a 
dancing  position.  She  made  one  more  heroic  effort  to 
dance  and  become  well.  Greater  and  greater  grew  the 
excitement.  The  chief  medicine  man  prayed  louder,  the 
shrieks  and  shouts  of  the  dancers  became  deafening. 
The  crisis  came.  In  the  excitement,  under  the  influence 
of  the  hypnotic  spell,  the  sick  one  forgot  her  ailments. 
She  danced.  She  took  a  medicine  hoop  in  each  hand. 
She  lifted  them  high  above  her  head.  She  leaped.  She 
crow-hopped.  She  posed.  She  strutted  around  the 
great  fire  like  a  turkey.  She  called  the  gods  by  name. 
She  shrieked,  swooned  and  died. 

Words  cannot  describe  the  scene  that  followed.     The 


DON  DIEGO 


345 


men  wept,  the  women  wailed  with  the  hideous  coyote 
yelping  wail  so  characteristic  of  the  Apaches.  They 
pulled  their  hair  out  by  handfuls,  they  rent  their  apparel 
and  destroyed  their  property  at  hand.  Then  made  a 
rush  to  see  the  corpse.  They  trampled  over  each  other, 
and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  they  were  kept  from  crowd 
ing  one  another  into  the  great  fire.  They  carried  her  to 
the  nearest  wigwam;  stripped,  washed,  and  dressed  her; 
beaded  her  with  all  the  beads  of  the  clan;  put  wristlets 
upon  wristlets  on  her  wrists ;  rolled  her  in  her  best  robe ; 
took  her  and  her  medicine  accouterments  to  the  moun 
tain  side  and  buried  them  beneath  a  pinon  tree.  Then 
they  returned  and  destroyed  everything  which  belonged 
to  her,  both  animate  and  inanimate,  together  with  her 
tepee,  that  the  things  that  were  hers  on  earth  might  be 
with  her  in  the  spirit  of  the  land  of  bliss.  Then  for 
thirty  days  the  women  wailed  and  mourned  for  her  at 


NO.   I.       J    --  2.|0. 

A 


MEDICINE  GIRLS'  SONGS 
Repeat  twice. 


Hi  -yu   Ian  -  o     ti  -  i  -  ish  hi  -  yu  Ian  -  5     tu  shi  ya   ah 


a  na    i  h!  -  yu  Ian  -  5     tu  shi  ya  ah       a    na  ah 

No.  2.    J=i44. 


A                 A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

A 

r       O 

^\                                    P^ 

1 

E 

•i 

•1 

\* 

I/T\    /I           1          Pi 

fc.      . 

c 

1 

i 

S 

^ 

VsV  5       i     *    ' 

c 

c 

tj          -^i-    "  -4- 

J- 

'-J- 

* 

-J- 

-J- 

7 

-J- 

Hi     yan 

-nah 

yan 

-  uah 

6 

he 

hi 

ya 

Music 

transcribed 

by  J.  P.  Herring 

J=  340. 


DON  DIEGO 

APACHE  MEDICINE  SONG 


W3=ri 

-1  —  1  r— 

_  :i    ,_i 

.J       .4 

F£ 

=J=d=0=fc 

E     ya     a     ha       y&    a     ha      yu    a      ha     ya   a    ha 


a  ha.  a     a       5.      a 


6  an  ne    who       & 
A 


fc=r^ri 
•^     * — a 


6     an     n5      who       a         5      an 
A 


who       a 

A  A 


V-*~|       I     Ki-     Kl     fO     Nl  Jg- ^K5=S5=A±^ 

**?F3^-f^=£-2— 


5  an    n5  hi     i       a 


a     a 


ha  nil  a 


is K- 


~fK- 


an 


ni 


an 


nS 


ne 


:3^E 


an       ne       u         ne         u  u         ne          5          ha         a 

Music  transcribed  by  J.  P.  Herring. 

morning,  noon,  and  night.  Thus  were  the  ceremonies 
performed  over  the  medicine  woman  brought  to  a  close. 
After  the  days  of  mourning  were  over,  Don  Diego  re 
sumed  his  journey.  His  Apache  friends  accompanied 
him  to  the  edge  of  the  "  wilderness."  From  there  he 
went  on  alone.  He  passed  through  Zun\  and  on  past 


DON  DIEGO  347 

El  Morro  and  finally  Cabezon  and  began  to  ascend  the 
foothills  of  the  western  wing  of  the  Jemez  Mountains. 
Reaching  Jackrabbit  valley  in  the  early  morning,  he 
climbed  the  first  point  overlooking  the  Jemez  country. 
He  scanned  the  valley  closely.  The  village  there  was 
abandoned  and  in  the  far  southeastern  view  toward  San 
Y  Sidro,  he  could  see  a  division  of  Spanish  cavalry  ap 
proaching.  Turning  to  the  northeast,  he  saw  the  mesa 
that  was  named  for  him  swarming  with  life.  It  evi 
dently  had  been  re  fortified  and  war  preparations  were 
then  actually  going  on.  A  battle  was  about  to  begin. 
Don  Diego  hurried  onward.  Could  he  be  of  any  serv 
ice  to  his  people?  He  heard  the  big  drum  sound  as  in 
the  days  of  yore.  He  saw  the  warriors  file  down  the 
tortuous  trail.  Was  he  dreaming?  He  pulled  his  hair 
to  be  sure  that  he  was  awake.  The  things  he  saw  were 
real.  He  hurried  on,  as  he  rapidly  planned  in  his  mind 
what  he  should  do.  But  what  would  he  do?  He  saw 
the  braves  station  themselves  in  the  ravines  and  pre 
pare  to  lie  in  wait  for  the  approaching  foe.  He  also 
saw  the  cavalry  approaching  at  a  rapid  pace.  He  reached 
the  edge  of  the  table-land  foothills.  He  descended  to  the 
valley  and  waded  the  river.  With  gray  locks  streaming 
in  the  breeze,  for  he  was  an  old  man  now,  he  rushed  be 
tween  the  approaching  hostile  lines,  now  only  a  few  hun 
dred  feet  apart.  With  uplifted  cross,  he  walked  be 
tween  the  lines.  "  I  am  Don  Diego,"  he  shouted  to  the 
Jemez  braves.  "  I  was  war-captain  of  your  fathers. 
We  fought  and  lost  all.  My  brothers,  it  is  useless  to 
make  war  on  the  pale- faces.  They  are  like  the  south 
west  wind:  more  and  more  of  them  come  every  day. 
They  are  like  the  flies:  the  more  of  them  one  kills  the 


348 


DON  DIEGO 


Altar  and  Sand  Painting  of  the  Knife  Society  of  the  Jemez. 


DON  DIEGO 


349 


Altar  and  Sand  Painting  of  the  Grant  Society,  Jemez,  New 
Mexico.  On  the  sand  painting  were  placed  stone  gods 
of  the  bear  and  cougar,  effigies  of  human  beings,  the  skins 
of  the  left  front  legs  of  bears  killed  in  the  sacred  hunts, 
bunches  of  feathers,  and  bowls  of  corn  pollen  and  sacred 
meal. 


350  DON  DIEGO 

more  comes.  The  country  of  their  fathers  is  running 
over  with  people  and  they  will  always  come  more  and 
more.  My  brothers,  our  gods  teach  right  doing,  so  does 
the  white  man's  God.  Their  Jesus  is  our  Pest-ya-sode. 
They  are  one  and  the  same.  In  the  name  of  all  the  gods 
of  our  fathers,  I  beg  you  to  cease  fighting  and  be  brothers 
of  the  white  people  if  they  will  be  brothers  to  you.  Give 
me  till  the  sun  has  passed  the  Zia  mesa  to  talk  with  the 
white  chief." 

Awed  by  the  miraculous  appearance  of  their  former 
chief  and  great  warrior,  the  lines  of  braves  halted  a  mo 
ment. 

Turning  quickly,  Don  Diego  faced  about  and  walked 
quickly  toward  the  Spanish  allies.  With  uplifted  cross 
he  approached  them.  The  general  ordered  his  men  to 
halt.  An  Indian  ally  went  out  to  meet  the  envoy.  They 
met.  The  ally  was  Ojeda.  "  My  God,"  he  said,  as  he 
neared  the  Jemez  chief,  "  it  is  Don  Diego." 

"  Yes,  Ojeda,  I  am  Don  Diego,"  greeting  him  as  a 
friend  according  to  the  Indian  custom.  "  We  are  on 
the  same  level  now.  I  forgive  you  all.  I  beg  you  to  go 
to  the  white  chief  and  tell  him  to  rest  his  arms  till  I 
can  talk  to  my  people.  Tell  him  I  wish  the  Jemez  to  be 
brothers  to  the  white  people  and  fight  them  no  more, 
and  the  white  people  to  be  our  brothers  also.  I  will  talk 
to  him  when  the  sun  stands  over  yonder  red  point  [the 
Zia  mesa]."  Thus  saying,  he  returned  to  his  people  and 
Ojeda  to  the  Spanish  lines. 

As  soon  as  Ojeda  reported  to  the  commandant  the 
Jemez  message,  that  officer  asked :  "  Do  you  not  think 
that  these  Indians  are  laying  a  trap  for  us  ?  " 

To  this  question  Ojeda  replied  that  he  did  not  think 


DON  DIEGO  351 

so,  as  the  man  he  had  talked  with  was  Don  Diego  and 
he  knew  him  to  be  a  man  of  his  word,  though  they  had 
always  disagreed. 

"  Don  Diego !  "  spoke  up  the  commandant,  "  you  don't 
mean  to  say  that  that  war-captain  that  caused  us  so  much 
trouble  and  that  was  captured  and  sent  to  the  mines  is 
here  on  the  fighting  line  now  ?  " 

"  I  certainly  do.  And  he  is  the  hardest  man  to  fight 
that  your  people  have  ever  met  in  this  region.  If  he 
offers  peaceable  terms,  they  had  better  be  accepted.  I 
do  not  know  how  he  got  here  unless  he  dropped  from 
the  clouds,  but  he  is  here." 

In  less  than  an  hour  Don  Diego  was  seen  approaching 
again  with  uplifted  cross.  Ojeda  and  the  general  went 
out  to  meet  him.  He  greeted  the  general  as  a  brother 
and  begged  him  in  the  name  of  the  Virgin  Mary  to  ac 
cept  the  terms  he  would  propose  to  settle  the  difficulty 
that  had  caused  the  uprising.  The  terms,  proposed,  were 
so  reasonable  that  they  were  readily  accepted;  and  that 
night  the  enemies  camped  together  as  brothers.  Ojeda 
and  Don  Diego  even  enjoyed  the  same  quarters  and 
talked  over  the  happenings  of  the  long  ago. 

The  next  day  was  Sunday  and  the  Spanish  allies  and 
the  Jemez,  led  by  Don  Diego,  went  to  mass  at  the  mission 
church  in  the  valley  where  the  priest  accompanying  the 
army  held  services.  After  the  religious  services  were 
completed,  Don  Diego  arose  and  explained  the  meaning 
of  the  ceremony  and  interpreted  the  good  sayings  of  the 
padre  in  his  remarks. 

On  leaving  the  place  the  next  day,  the  Spaniards  left 
Don  Diego  both  as  governor  and  acting  spiritual  adviser 
of  the  Jemez  people,  which  position  he  held  to  the  day  of 


352  DON  DIEGO 

his  death,  but  devoting  most  of  his  time  to  his  priestly 
office,  holding  mass  at  the  church,  looking  after  the  sick, 
and  attending  to  the  confessions  of  the  people. 

One  day  when  holding  mass  he  fell  to  the  floor  while 
kneeling  before  the  altar;  and  when  they  went  to  him, 
he  was  dead.  The  next  day  his  remains  were  carried 
to  Mesa  Don  Diego  and  interred  in  a  grave  dug  in  the 
floor  of  the  estufa  in  the  village  of  his  fathers,  amid  both 
Catholic  and  Indian  ceremonies.  The  afternoon  of  that 
same  day,  Indians  let  themselves  down  by  ropes  over  the 
east  wall  of  the  mesa  opposite  his  grave  and  there  over 
looking  the  Rio  San  Diego,  they  chiseled  in  the  rock  wall 
a  large  likeness  of  their  departed  chief  and  religious  ad 
visor,  which  figure  can  be  seen  to-day.  And  even  now 
the  Jemez  like  to  tell  the  legends  around  their  hearth- 
fires  of  this  Jemez  brother  who  was  an  acting  Catholic 
priest.  And  furthermore,  they  confound  him  with  the 
canonized  Saint  San  Diego  and  in  their  Patron  Saint 
feast  to  that  saint  on  the  i2th  of  November  each  year, 
they  throw  their  bread,  melons,  and  other  eatables  sky 
ward  to  be  trampled  under  foot  in  prayer  to  their  former 
governor  and  priest,  Don  Diego. 


THE  END 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 
TLJC-   I  IMIWC-PCJJTV   I    inn  «  r*it 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hllgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  It  was  borrowed. 


...REC'DLO-UM- 
QLOCT17 


PS 

5555     Reagan- 
R22d     Don  Diego. 


A    001  247  548    9 


•BIT] 


